17th-century mirror featuring King Charles II sells for £65k

A 17th-century mirror featuring King Charles II has been sold for a record-breaking amount at auction. The stumpwork and lacquer mirror, which dates back to 1652, was estimated to fetch up to £2,000 when it went under the hammer. But auctioneers were stunned when the rectangular mirror sold for a whopping £65,000 at Lindsay Burns…

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Outlander’s Sam Heughan picks winners

OUTLANDER star Sam Heughan has named the winners of his Write Start award. Heughan launched the competition last year to encourage students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) to develop original work. This year’s winners are Hayley Louise McGuire and Jayme Bartlett, who are both in the third year of their bachelor of arts…

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Scots brands at No 10 and parliament

SCOTTISH coffee and beer brands are making waves at the heart of government. Perth-based Mhor Coffee will be served at the next cabinet meeting, while one of Arran Brewery’s beers was recently poured at the Stranger’s Bar in the Palace of Westminster. Tricia Fox, who founded her online coffee retailer with her husband during the…

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Edinburgh International Film Festival will return

A SLIMMED-DOWN version of the Edinburgh International Film Festival will return this August. The future of the festival was thrown into question last October when the Centre for the Moving Image, the charity that ran the festival, fell into administration. Now, the movie festival will return for a week this summer as part of the…

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Whisky news round-up: Speyburn, Macallan, and more

Peter Ranscombe takes another look at the world of Scotch whisky. SPEYBURN distillery is preparing to welcome visitors for the first time in its 125-year history as part of the Spirit of Speyside whisky festival. Distillery manager Euan Henderson and his assistant, David Rogerson, will lead tours during the festival, which runs from 26 April…

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Burrell collection brings in £20m for Glasgow

THE Burrell Collection has welcomed half a million visits since reopening in March and has injected £19.9 million into Glasgow’s economy. That’s according to Glasgow Life, the organisation set up by the local council to run arts venues in the city. The economic benefit generated by the museum rises to £21.1m for Scotland as a…

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Edinburgh’s Christmas revealed in numbers

ORGANISERS have highlighted the popularity of Edinburgh’s Christmas by unveiling the numbers behind the celebrations. More than 2.4 million visits were made to Princes Street Gardens and George Street during the five and a half weeks of festivities. The capital’s big wheel lifted more than 140,000 people up into the skies above Princes Street, while…

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February’s issue of Scottish Field is out now…

THE latest issue of Scottish Field magazine is on sale now, both in shops and online. Inside our February edition, Galloway farmers David and Wilma Finlay share the story of how they became “The Ethical Dairy”. “It’s a tale of triumph over adversity, which is enough to put even the most difficult of times into…

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Wedding venues prepare for New Year

SCOTLAND’S wedding venues are gearing up for a busy 2023. Joyce and Simon Usher, owners of Dunglass Estate, are celebrating after being named as “wedding venue of the year” at the Scotland Prestige Awards. The 5,000-acre estate in East Lothian was dubbed “the most romantic sweet place I ever saw” by poet Robert Burns. Usher…

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Scots language survey launched

A PROJECT is being launched today to map how Scots is spoken throughout the nation. The “Speak for Yersel” project, run by the University of Glasgow, aims to build up a picture of how Scots is used in different places. Jennifer Smith, professor of sociolinguistics at the university, said: “Lots of people say ‘Oh I…

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