Scotland

Each year I see more and more people taking their family pet away with them on their annual vacation. I used to only see old age pensioners taking their pet dog with them but now it is just as common to see a whole family with the dog. I don’t know why this surprises me so much as when I was a child we always took our dog with us when we went camping and the only time we didn’t was when we stayed in a hotel. Maybe that is it, maybe these days more hotels and guest houses allow pets? I pondered on this for a while and took a look at some of the many articles on the Internet about so called “Pet Friendly Hotels”. I then decided to begin creating lists of places which allow pets and could therefore be said to be pet friendly... Read More

I have mentioned Stirling Castle in earlier posts but having just created a new page for simplytop.com with a wealth of details about Stirling Castle I thought it was worth including a few of the important details here. Although I have yet to visit Edinburgh Castle from the information I have read it appears to me that it is rather over estimated, especially when compared to the fantastic example at Stirling... Read More

I write for a number of sites and I was recently writing for Virtual Scotland about Tony Blair when I just totally lost it. The article started of reasonably well with a basic rundown of his life but by the time I got to his days as British PM I found that all the good I had to say was negated by the war in Iraq and the likes. I had decided that I was going to write her about the wonderful Scottish city of Aberdeen and why it was such a cool place to take a weekend city break but I can not help but think about all the choas that seems to be going on there at the moment so I will add a quick bit about that first... Read More

I have actually lost count of the amount of times I have been asked (in personal or via email) what is the best time of the year to visit the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles) and I really do have to admit that though many assume it to be the height of the tourist season many choose to visit the islands at various other times instead. Let me explain a couple of the reasons why I would consider this to be a very wise decision... Read More

Spending most of my summer vacation on the beach isn’t my idea of fun. Please do not get the wrong idea, at times I really do enjoy relaxing on a sandy beach, however, I also like to travel a little inland too. I love to soak in the atmosphere, which is often unique, I like to sample the local food and culture. If the truth is to be known I simply enjoy visiting new places each year and I try very hard attempting to find something totally different. Most probably this is why I so thoroughly enjoy visits to the island in the Hebrides known as the Isle of Harris and why I frequently choose to book a self catering cottage on Harris... Read More

Fife is an region of Scotland surrounded by water on three sides, the Tay, the Forth and the North Sea. While much of the land is turned over to agriculture the small region is actually the third largest, in terms of population, in Scotland with a rather industrial southern part. Tourism provides an important income and much of the interest in the area is associated with golf, that ancient Scottish game that is known, and well loved, throughout the world. For this reason I have decided to introduce you to the British Golf Museum and the St Andrews Museum. There are a great many places to visit in Fife but for an area surrounded by so much water it will not come as any great surprise that I have chosen to also take a look at the Scottish Fisheries Museum... Read More

Castle Douglas can be found roughly 19 miles from the city of Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Strangely there is no actual castle in Castle Douglas. The town is a traditional country market town with many links to agriculture. Driving around Dumfries and Galloway you will notice that the whole area appear far greener than most places in Scotland, with plenty of lush green meadows, small woods and larger forests dotted across the beautiful countryside. There are plenty of places to visit in and around Castle Douglas and below I introduce you to three extremely popular tourist attractions... Read More

I have lived in the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles) for over 18 years now and every time I travel down to England I pass through a great many places I would dearly love to spend some time. This is especially the case with the Scottish city of Stirling, a place I have only ever visited once. On that occasion I thought I had plenty of time to take in all of the wonderful visitor attractions in the area, boy I couldn’t have been more wrong! In the following article I introduce three visitor attractions that you should really try to get to see if you are spending some time in the city. Included in these is the amazing Stirling Castle where I managed to spend a whole day. Although I have problems with my mobility I was able to visit every area and even if I wasn’t restricted, by mobility problems, I am sure I would have still spent the same amount of time in the place, it is simply wonderful. Maybe this summer I will stop off at Stirling and visit the other two tourist attractions mentioned below... Read More