The Clan Courier

CLAN COURIER

Stay in a Scottish castle, admire 18th-century couture, and enjoy the best of Scottish cuisine

[COMPETITION] WIN A GREAT BRITISH HOLIDAY

There is still time (just) to enter our competition to win a holiday to Britain, which includes tickets to Edinburgh Castle, a stay in a luxury boutique hotel in the Scottish capital, plus a trip to the quaint villages and rolling hills of the Cotswolds and a five-star luxury stay in London. The closing date is 31 July 2022, and the trip can be taken between 1 September 2022 and 31 May 2023, subject to availability. For full Ts and Cs and to be in with the chance of winning this fabulous prize, go to scotlandmag.com/ great-british-holiday-competition

[HOLIDAYS] SWAP YOUR HOME FOR A CASTLE

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. You really can trade in your home for a Scottish castle – at least for a week or two – thanks to a home swap scheme that costs less than £100 per year.

Love Home Swap has some incredible properties on its books, including the 500-year-old tower house, Duchray Castle (pictured), located in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs, which comes with original beams, wood-panelling, and four-poster beds.

Other properties include a historic house on the banks of Loch Ness and a wooden cabin hidden away in the Highlands.

For an annual fee of £96, you can choose to do straight home swaps, where you go and stay in a home and the owner of that home comes to stay in yours, or you can accrue points and use these to ‘pay’ for holidays in other people’s homes (though in these cases other fees may apply). lovehomeswap.com

[STATELY HOMES] CASTLE CATWALK

A rare 18th-century dress, worn by the 2nd Duchess of Atholl, is to form the centrepiece of a new period fashion show at Blair Castle, in Perthshire, this year.

Incredibly, this beautiful dress, made from hand-painted ivory Chinese silk and edged with gold thread brocade, ruffles, and pleats, lay in storage in a trunk simply labelled ‘clothes’ in the castle’s archives for years.

The dress will now go on display at the castle as part of the Castle Couture: 1740-1844 exhibition, which includes other outfits once worn by members of Britain’s high society, from the Jacobite era to Victorian times, including fashionable waistcoats and lace dresses.

Keren Guthrie, archivist at Blair Castle, said: “Pulling together this exhibition has been a fascinating journey. While we knew of some items in the archives, opening long forgotten trunks to find such treasures as the Chinese silk dress was incredibly exciting. Fans of Outlander will recognise the style as being something that Claire Randall would have worn.”

The Castle Couture exhibition will be included in the Blair Castle entry ticket price until January 2023. atholl-estates.co.uk/blair-castle

[COMMUNITY] POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Locals on the Knoydart peninsula are toasting their success, having bought Britain’s ‘most remote pub’ in what is considered a landmark deal.

Until recently, The Old Forge in Inverie, the main port in Knoydart, was owned by Belgian Jean-Pierre Robinet. However, as Megan Eaves reported in Issue 119, locals were desperate to run the pub as a community venture – having already successfully bought a large part of the Knoydart Estate in 1999.

In 2021, The Old Forge Community Benefit Society (CBS) was set up with the aim of raising money to buy the pub through crowdfunding.

Additional financial support came from the Scottish Land Fund and the Community Ownership Fund, and on 28 March 2022, the CBS received the keys to the pub.

On a statement on their website, CBS said: “This is a momentous step towards relaunching our only local pub for the benefit of the community and all who love the Forge and Knoydart.”

It is hoped the pub will be open again by mid-April and it will be run as a non-profit, with all proceeds being reinvested in the business and other local projects. theoldforge.co.uk