CLAN COURIER

Big news for Scotland’s favourite monster, plus a campaign to save a historic ship

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NESSIE’S NEW HOME

Of all of Scotland’s myths and legends, the ‘is-she-or-isn’t-she’ mystery of the Loch Ness Monster is the one that attracts the most interest. Now, with its family owners moving on after 40 years, The Loch Ness Centre, near Inverness, is to be given an exciting makeover to the tune of £1.5m by its new owners Continuum Attractions.

Continuum Attractions is behind the hugely popular Real Mary King’s Close visitor experience in Edinburgh, so when the Loch Ness Centre reopens in spring 2023, visitors can expect an engaging and immersive experience.

Juliana Delaney, chief executive of Continuum Attractions, said: “I was keen to seek out another great Scottish story to tell. We found it on Loch Ness. This is a magical place – it could be our Jurassic Park, and if a monster hasn’t been found here yet, this is the place in which it will be discovered! So, I will encourage everyone to ‘keep looking’”. lochness.com

[WHISKY] DRAMMING UP INTEREST

A whisky club that was started “for a lark” by an Edinburgh whisky enthusiast in 1983 is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, which now boasts almost 40,000 members across the world, has specialised in ‘whisky in its purest form’ – mainly single malt whiskies bottled from single casks that are not diluted with water, artificially coloured or chill-filtered – for four decades.

The Society, which now has 30 branches across the world, including in the USA and Australia, is celebrating its birthday with a year of activities, which will include releasing a chilli-tinged whisky, assembling a female-only tasting panel, and even attempting a top-secret world-record in honour of its maverick founder, Pip Hills.

Hills explained why he started the club: “I started the whole thing for a lark. At the time, most of the Scotch whisky industry was very dull and most of the whisky wasn’t up to much. I had no great liking for whisky, but when I first tried whisky drawn straight from a cask, it was an epiphany – this whisky tasted astonishing and quite unlike any whisky I’d drunk before. I shared some with my friends and they loved it too, so it seemed like a good idea to share it with more people.” smws.com

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Race To Save Historic Ship

A campaign is underway to save one of the world’s most historic ships for future generations. HMS Unicorn is almost 200 years old and has resided in Dundee for 150 years.

Considered the third oldest ship in the world still afloat and Scotland’s only preserved warship, HMS Unicorn is in desperate need of £1m worth of conservation works and repairs.

American entrepreneur, John Paul DeJoria, pledged £20,000 to the campaign following a visit to the ship by HRH the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, in September in her role as patron of The Unicorn Preservation Society. In February 2023 the campaign received its highest donation to date – £100,000 from The Headley Trust.

Museum director, Matthew Bellhouse Moran, said: “We are extremely grateful for this donation, which brings us a step closer to achieving our vision of HMS Unicorn becoming a central attraction of the new Dundee Maritime Heritage Centre, as part of Project Safe Haven.”

Members of the public can also support the e orts by signing up for an annual Shipmates membership (£35pp), which includes a year of free visits for the member, plus free visits for a pal.

Once restoration has been completed, HMS Unicorn will move to East Graving Dock in Dundee to form the centrepiece of the Dundee Maritime Heritage Centre. Dundee is also home to RSS Discovery – the ship that took Scott and Shackleton to Antarctica in 1901. frigateunicorn.org/hms-unicorn/supporting-us/becoming-a-friend

Hebridean Home From Home

Looking for an island hideaway for your next visit? Isle of Mull Cottages has a selection of self-catering holiday homes in idyllic locations across the Isle of Mull (see our travel feature on Mull on page 19).

At Derryguaig Smiddy on Loch na Keal, for example, you can sip your morning co ee as you gaze over Ben More, while those wanting to escape the daily grind, will surely find the reset they need at Shore Croft (pictured), a stone cottage at the head of Uisken beach that has bundles of character and other hidden-away beaches, like Ardalanish and Kilvickeon, to discover nearby. Plus, the slipway at nearby Fionnphort is where the Iona ferry picks up passengers to spirit them away to the Isle of Iona for the day. isleofmullcottages.com