The Scottish Isle of Bute: a family hoilday.

Advantages: Peace, little traffic, undeveloped, diversity of terrain, empty beaches,wildlife, hiking, fishing, golf too.
Disadvantages: Rather dependent on the weather so enjoy the great outdoors.

...My wife and I, and our two daughters aged 9 and 11 spent four days on The Isle of Bute. We flew very cheaply by RyanAir from London Stanstead to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, closer to Ayr than to Glasgow.With RyanAir tickets the train is half price so it wasn't that expensive to get to Wemyss Bay where the ferry goes over to Bute.Joy oh joy! Instead of the old rattling cattle ferries there are two new luxury ships on this route, all timber and panoramic views. Such a change from my last visit! Rothesay has had a paint job too, inside and out. And decent coffee being served by polite cafe owners. The big old fish and chip shop is still going but the product tastes like everywhere else now, packet batter, smelly oil, you know. To make up for it there are new Brasseries serving freshly made meals from fresh ingredients...now that's quite...

Maelstreaming 15.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Isle of Bute

A Scottish Pyramid

Advantages: Blended for use with soft water
Disadvantages: May not be available in other places

...Scotland is well known for its Pyramids, in fact in West Lothian we have quite a few, although I admit they are really called ?bings? a result from coal and shale mining, but along the M8 there are art projects including pyramids to brighten up the journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow! Seriously though I?m taking about Scottish Blend pyramid tea bags made especially for soft Scottish water. Serious tea drinkers will know that the same tea bag or leaves tastes differently depending on the area and type of water. I used to love to get home after holidays for a decent cup of tea! I stopped drinking tea with caffeine a couple of years ago but have started to have the odd cup of tea instead of my usual fruit infusions. And as I filled up the Tea caddy with bags I thought I must tell people what Scottish blend is like. My box has...

jo145 07.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Brooke Bond Scottish Blend

Home Of The Scottish Government

Advantages: interesting tour
Disadvantages: a bit boring if you dont like politics

...Holyrood has been home to the Scottish Government since 2004 and the building designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles was the subject of much controversy because of the massive amounts of money spent on building it and many hated the modern design. I was invited to the parliament building as part of a group by my local MSP and after we had a meeting we were given a tour of the building by her researcher. My experience will be slightly different to most visitors as we visited on a day when the parliament was sitting, public tours normally only take place on non business days. Visit the Scottish government website for more details about what days and time tours take place. Holyrood is at the bottom of the Royal Mile near to Arthur's seat, it is a lovely walk through the lovely cobbled old streets from the city centre to...

wigglylittleworm 15.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Scottish Parliament Building

The Misty Isle

Advantages: Stunning landscape, nice towns to visit
Disadvantages: None

...The Isle of Skye is somewhere I have wanted to visit my whole life, but have never had the chance. The Scottish Isles for me have a sort of mystique about them, the isolation and the tradition they have, but Skye has always been the one I?ve wanted to go to. I think a lot of it has to do with my favourite band, Runrig, being from there ? their songs are often about the landscape they grew up in, and they even have a song called Skye. Finally, at the end of September this year, I went to the island with my parents. Having been staying on the mainland for several days in rubbish weather, the first remotely decent day we had we jumped in the car and shot across the bridge, as they knew how excited I was to go to the island, and we didn?t want to miss the best weather we were likely to have (best in this sense is mainly dry with showers...

eilidhcatriona 16.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Isle of Skye (Scotland)

Scottish Blend, Scottish Revelries

Advantages: Flavorful tea especially blended for soft water
Disadvantages: Difficult to procure (in the States, that is), short of a trip to Scotland

..."It's no' th' tea," said my Scottish friend. "It's th' water. Ye kin take th' tea home, but ye kin no' take th' water." Hmmmm, well, I grant that most places I've visited in Scotland have wonderfully soft and pleasant-tasting water. Still and all, we also have very nice soft water in my little corner of America. We don't, however, have ready access to Scottish Blend tea. Fortunately, this particular problem is easy to solve--just fly off to Scotland often enough to keep a ready supply on hand! (Failing that, Scottish Blend can sometimes be found in the States at specialty shops stocking UK foodstuffs.) You may think I'm jesting with this flippant remark about flying off to Scotland. I'm not. Scotland and I have been involved in a torrid love affair for just over a decade now, and I cross the Pond to this bonny piece...

BawBaw 17.05.2008 (23.08.2009) · Read review
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Review of Brooke Bond Scottish Blend

My Scottish Owner

Advantages: A friend for life
Disadvantages: None - unless you like your garden!!!

...are they? ** Scotties, Scottish Terriers, or Aberdeen Terriers are a wonderful dog, they are loyal, and great fun to have around. They are generally black in colour, but can be brindle (sort of grey) and wheaten (creamy coloured) A lot of people do confuse Scotties with their cousins the Westie (who are white). They are quite a stocky dog, not too small and not too big, and have a wonderful trusting loving character to them. The Scottie was originally bred in Scotland to hunt foxes and badgers, although if mine saw a fox or badger, they would probably hide behind my legs going ?ggrrrrr, whoooaaa, phrrrr? which translates to ?Go on then dad, you sort it out? ** They're snappy, aren't they? ** If I could have a pound for everyone that has said that to me, I would be very rich. As I mentioned earlier, I'm on Scotties number 5...

lazza123 21.01.2005 · Read review
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Review of Scottish Terrier

JEWEL OF THE ISLE

Advantages: Gorgeous designer & unusual clothing
Disadvantages: No changing facilities for the disabled

...Famous for its mountainous and breathtaking scenery, The Isle of Skye ? situated off the West coast of Mainland Scotland - is the largest and best known of the Inner Hebrides. Renowned for its natural beauty and therefore a magnate for climbers, artists and photographers, it is perhaps not the first place one would think of to visit for a glorious shopping experience. Seek and ye shall find. The island looks tiny on the map but you'll need your entire holiday and more to discover even a small proportion of some of the area's hidden gems. I'd like to share one such shiny jewel with you. Ragamuffin is situated on the pier in Armadale, Sleat (pronounced 'slate') on the south western peninsula of the island. The little shop (strangely like a sheik's tent, it is actually bigger inside than it appears outside) sits overlooking...

Louizalass 19.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Ragamuffin, Isle of Skye

Scottish Devolution At It's Highest Form

Advantages: Very interesting and an Iconic symbol to Scotland
Disadvantages: The price of the building £460 million to build!!!

...**What Is It?** The Scottish Parliament of Scotland is the central place of Scottish Politics. The parliament has 129 members called MSP's (Members of the Scottish Parliament) This is where they do some of there work, debating certain issues and representing their constiuency and/or region. They have been working in the Scottish Parliament since October 2004. **Why I Went** My mum actaully works for the one of the Ministers so i'm in and out all the time and have been there at least 50 times! So i'm seeing writing my first impressions and what it would be like to a tourist. I've been with the school so i'll also write about that! Enjoy... **It's History** In 1707 the act of Union took place. This meant Scotland was to be ruled by England and have the same laws etc. Then 292 years later Scotland decided "Hey, we want our own...

scotlandizdabest 25.08.2007 (01.01.2008) · Read review
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Review of The Scottish Parliament Building

THE MISTY ISLE (Eilean a'Cheo) ISLE OF SKYE

Advantages: Tranquility; breathtaking scenery; friendly islanders
Disadvantages: Wet and windy or Midgies - take your pick!

..."'The Misty Isle' as the Isle of Skye is affectionately known (the Gaelic name is Eilean a' Cheo - pronounced Ellen a Kee-ow) is the largest of the Inner Hebridean Islands. The island lies about a mile off the north-west of Scotland. Grab yourself a map, and if you live in the south of England, move your finger up the map following the coastline, up through the North of England, through the Scottish borders, up, up, up?. Wait! Stop! See, just to the left at the very edge of the coastline in the Highlands of Scotland you will see a tiny place called Kyle of Lochalsh. This is where, up until 1995, you would catch the ferry to the Isle of Skye. Then they built a bridge and tourism dropped dramatically because the tolls were very, very expensive at £5.70 each way. In 2005, the tolls were finally abolished and since then the island has...

Louizalass 17.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Isle of Skye (Scotland)

Will this scottish tablet cure your ill's

Advantages: really good fudge
Disadvantages: fattening

...Coming home from Scotland we stopped to buy some gifts for friends. We bought some Scottish tablet. Now for those of you who do not know tablet is basically fudge. The Scottish tablet that I bought was by Gordon and Durwood . Gordon and Durwood from Crieff, Perthshire are makers of traditional Scottish sweets. The Scottish tablet I bought and am describing to you today is the Vanilla Butter Table. I bought a few packs weighing 125g they cost £1.25p25p each This fudge Scottish tablet is a flat slab/tablet of fudge it has been scored into smaller square pieces I think there were about 16 pieces in the tablet I bought, This golden brown Scottish tablet is wrapped in some see through cellophane with a paper label attached. . Open the packet and break a piece of this tablet off, the scoring of the fudge makes it easy to break into...

mumsymary 04.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Gordon & Durward Scottish Tablet