Sublime Scotland

02/09/2024

An extra special treat for John and his guests when they visited the House of Dun yesterday. See if you can spot him amongst the stalls! https://www.facebook.com/appetiteforangus/videos/2461464527383877/?

29/08/2024

A wee snapshot of our great day at the Bute Highland Games. Thanks to everyone involved as it was really well organised. The sun shone on most of the competitors although the 10km roadrunners bravely raced through a heavy downpour near the end. Seemed only fitting to enjoy haggis, neeps and tatties for dinner! Turnip and Potatoes!

25/08/2024

We usually post our best, blue sky, full sun Scotland photos here. Just for a change, here is one we took yesterday showing real determination to enjoy a day out!

21/08/2024

A visit to the Hill House had been long anticipated since the innovative steel box was erected to protect it in 2019! Margaret MacDonald was a genius of an artist and her husband was the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He became more famous while he acknowledged the massive impact Margaret had in all his work. The Hill House is one of the most splendid examples of their collaborative design. Now it is being protected to allow it to dry out for the next ten years or more. Anyone with a fear of heights had to take a deep breath to venture to the top level of the steel frame to admire this special home from above!!

18/08/2024

Great celebration and congratulations to Inveraray Pipe Band who beat very tough opposition this week to become world champions for the third time!

Inveraray & District Pipe Band became Grade 1 World Champions for the third time on August 17, 2024, with St Laurence O’Toole winning the Grade 1 Drumming. Today’s Grade 1 […]

16/08/2024

What a great atmosphere seeing the unfolding of the 2024 World Piping Championships. With 50 overseas pipe bands competing together with 150 from the UK it was an amazing atmosphere. Day two is tomorrow when the World Champions of 2024 will be crowned.

16/08/2024

At last! Our first visit to the World Piping Championships! 200 bands are competing from all over the world! We're enjoying all the bands tuning up before the serious competition begins at 10.30am. Pure class.

15/08/2024

What an amazing new discovery!

11/08/2024

Stirling is so handy for popping through to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe! Our first show was an impressive Improvisation drama! We were in absolute awe of the actors. Then after a tasty al fresco lunch in Bristo Square we hot footed it to The Assembly Rooms for second row seats in front of the incredible gymnastics of the Black Blues Brothers! What energy and skill! It is their final visit to the World's largest Arts Festival so we were delighted to have been there.

08/08/2024

Great news. Lamlash Cruises in Arran have been in touch to say they would offer a private boat trip for Sublime Scotland guests in 2025! Either on this amazing RIB or the smoother boat trip which we enjoyed last month!

Our programme of RIB excursions for August is here 🎉🎉
For more details and to book, contact [email protected] or 07904 846765

07/08/2024

Sublime Scotland has gone international! Actually, John's latest tour popped over the border as his guests had requested three days exploring the amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall and the ancient Roman Fort of Vindolanda. During its time as a garrison for the building of the wall it was demolished and rebuilt nine times!
John decided to take the road less travelled and climbed above the Vindolanda site to explore the quarry which provided all the stone before the fort was abandoned in the 9th century.

02/08/2024

Our hero has finally retired after three thrilling Olympic matches. We will miss you Andy!
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/other-sport/andy-murray-is-scotlands-greatest-sportsperson-and-he-will-be-missed-painfully-by-so-many-4726458?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0BKAuS392bKHXC433IAkR-xEd7T4ofMaywuV6TpHB39AVQ0hZyde5GbTc_aem_VK6RzOYq9IYt38aRsfj3NA

It’s the end of an era as Murray draws curtain on most glittering career in Paris

01/08/2024

A great wee article published last week, just as we were touring Arran with guests! The author was as delighted as we were with "Scotland in Miniature"!

Dubbed ‘Scotland in miniature’, the “enchanted isle” of Arran is a magical playground for children, with its mysterious stones, fairytale waterfalls and dinosaur footprints

28/07/2024

These ladies were a one take wonder!! Safe travels home ladies and I'm glad you enjoyed our Arran Adventure as much as I did!

27/07/2024

There are only 300 Eriskay Ponies in the world. 50 of them roam free on the Holy Isle, Arran and we were lucky enough to see three beautiful ponies on our walk! We also relaxed with the Soay Sheep (who look quite like goats!) and spotted two wading oystercatchers enjoying the shore. 

26/07/2024

We enjoyed a wonderful trip over to Holy Isle. First visited in the 6th century by St. Molaise, today you may stay for a week long retreat and enjoy Tai Chi, Yoga, Mindfulness and many other classes, perfect on this spiritual island.

26/07/2024

When spotting a lovely old jetty in the village of Whiting Bay, Arran, my guests on tour took the chance to do some "planking". I felt it would be rude not to join in!! 😂😂

25/07/2024

First morning of our Arran tour and we popped into the wonderful Arran Heritage Museum. Lucky for us that the local spinners and weavers are there on a Thursday, so we got to chat to them about their spinning wheels, the wool, and the lovely scarves they were making!

25/07/2024

Our first tour to the fabulous Island of Arran! We have both loved Arran for many years so were delighted to create a special tour for our three guests. Brodick Castle and a trip to Holy Isle is part of the Arran Adventure so watch this space to see how we get on!

23/07/2024

A fascinating short video showing the thatching process on the new iron age Crannog Centre being created in Perthshire, using the locally grown reeds from the River Tay. We hope to visit in 2025 and see the results of their labour! Well done to the RSPB for providing the only Scottish grown reeds!

RSPB Scotland manages seedbeds on the River Tay to help species like Bearded Tit and Marsh Harrier. But it's also the last source of commercial reed for that...

22/07/2024

Many of our guests pay a visit to Edinburgh Castle and marvel at the famous Mons Meg cannon. We were recently sent a postcard, discovered by a tour guest, which amazingly shows Mons Meg as she would have looked pre-1934!
Created around 1457, even a team of oxen could only move her 3 miles per day! After a brutal time in the 15th century, involved in many battles, and then in the 1700's spending 75 years in the Tower of London, she returned to Edinburgh Castle in 1829.

HES provides a fascinating history of this amazing cannon here.

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/archives-and-research/archives-and-collections/properties-in-care-collections/object/mons-meg-jehan-cambier-of-mons-1449-late-medieval-edinburgh-castle-12935

A new timber and iron carriage was made for the gun in 1934. Mons Meg is on loan from the Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries.

Thanks Laurel Burk and Stephen Manke for sending us this great picture!

18/07/2024

We often pop in to see the original 30m high Kelpies near Falkirk BUT we had a lovely surprise at the weekend to see the Kelpie Maquettes! They were in the village of Ardrishaig, better known as the eastern entrance to the Crinan Canal, or a handy stop en route to Kintyre. Andy Scott created these 1:10 miniatures which are back from a world tour including New York, Chicago, Milan and London! It was fun to say hello!

15/07/2024

Reflecting on a stunning walk along "Scotland's most beautiful shortcut". The Crinan Canal (9 miles) in Argyll has wonderful wildlife, a great bird hide from which to enjoy our feathered friends, and a great pop up cafe at the half way point!

12/07/2024

We've been busy this week getting acquainted with Scotland's amazing 4,000 year old Rock Art!

We have had an extraordinary summer of discovery! We realised that Rock Art - Scotland's most amazing story - has been hiding in plain sight. See the Spirals for yourself.

09/07/2024

Something new and creative in the inspiring setting of the Church of the Visit The Church of the Holy Rude this week. Thanks for letting us all share in this.

07/07/2024

An unusual angle on the old Oban Times building on the promenade. Last year, one of our very talented guests, sat at this window, looking over the bay, and created a stunning watercolour. You know who you are!

06/07/2024

It's only five days until Oban hosts the round the world challenging Clipper Race, the first time it has ever stopped InScotland! There is huge anticipation here already about this festival of sailing.

For the first time, the Clipper Race will be making a stop in Scotland when it docks in Oban. Here's all you need to know about this first dock in Oban

03/07/2024

Spending a few days on the water before our next tours later this month. We have a total of eight locks to negotiate tomorrow so lots of careful steering and rope work ahead!

03/07/2024

Breaking News! We have just been awarded TripAdvisors 2024 Certificate of Excellence! 🥳🥳

A heartfelt thanks from us both to each and every guest who took the time to post a review of their Sublime Scotland tour. We really do appreciate it!

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.