Book winner and winter adventures

Sometimes the strangeness of blogging drops into my mind and stays for tea. For example it strikes me as bizarre that while the snow is falling and the temperatures in Scotland are below freezing, I will soon be posting a book about Edinburgh buildings all the way to Brazil, where it is currently 30C in Rio de Janeiro.

More than 30 of you lovely people put your names in the hat for the copy of David Torrance’s new book: Inside Edinburgh. I have loved reading the descriptions of the buildings around the world that have inspired you.

Nathália was the lucky winner chosen at random from the magic number thingy I found on the Internet. Nathália listed Brazil’s Imperial Museum as the building that most inspires her. I’m not surprised; I took the virtual tour on the museum’s website and I nearly swooned. 

Parabéns, Nathália! (That’s congratulations Nathália in Portugese). Thank you to everyone who shared stories, and again to Birlinn Publishers for sponsoring the giveaway. For those who have added Inside Edinburgh to their Christmas lists, it is also available on Amazon.

Now we leave the comfort of warm interiors behind and we venture out to where Scotland’s capital city is blanketed in a fresh layer of snowy white. The Christmas markets opened last week and this afternoon my beloved and I went for a wander through the mayhem.

From some angles the gothic spires of the Walter Scott Monument look to be caught in the spokes of the massive Edinburgh wheel. But turn towards the old town and you could be convinced that nothing has changed in this city for centuries.

Dotted here and there around the market, standing to attention in the middle of the pavements or propped precariously on handrails, are the snowmen. By the time we were leaving some of them were already starting to melt, taking on that drooping demeanour that will eventually spell their doom.

We spied one woman who was engaged in creating what turned out to be her first ever snow sculpture. Using branches for antlers, she lovingly shaped the body of her snow reindeer and its frozen cartoon grin.

When it is cold and dreich like this, it is the people who keep the warmth flowing through the cold air. The weather can be as bitter as it likes, but you will find no shortage of cheer as you make your way past the wee huts selling everything from glassware to a seemingly endless array of Scottish and German food treats.

Hot spiced wine? Check. Excellent selection of winter hats on display at the beer garden? Check. The happiest pretzel sellers in the land? Double check!

My favourite photo of the day is the simplest. Perhaps I love it because it makes me feel quiet and at ease. While walking home we saw a bush of ice-covered berries outside of St. Mary’s Cathedral.

The plump buttons of warm flamingo pink against the backdrop of ornate stonework was the perfect ending to a day in Edinburgh in the snow.


Stay warm, everyone.

A rather luscious book giveaway

When was the last time you were passing a bookshop and a title in the window made you stop in your tracks and gasp? It happened to me a couple of weeks ago when I was heading home from work. I gawked at the book in the window and I think I may have audibly moaned with longing.

From the first glance I already knew the smooth feel of the cover, the way the deep brown of old wooden banisters would seem to leach through full-page photos. I knew the clean lines that would surround succinct descriptions to compliment the images. And I knew just how each page would fall open with the tiniest whoosh and come to settle with a sigh against its neighbour.

It was the most beautiful book I had seen in a long time. It was this book:

David Torrance is an Edinburgh-born freelance journalist who roped photographer Steven Richmond into undertaking the mammoth project of capturing the intricate interiors of Edinburgh’s most stunning buildings.

The front cover, which features The Dome, gives you a sense of what is to come inside. The book is split into sections, covering shops, restaurants and hotels, clubs and societies, domestic interiors, banks, schools, colleges and institutions, government and civic buildings, and churches.

David credits his mother “for unconsciously giving rise to this book by dragging me around stately homes as a child.”

For me, this book fits perfectly with the sentiments of this blog because it goes against our modern-day rush-around natures and invites us to slow down and take deep pleasure in our surroundings. 

From the plush red and pink tones of Leslies Bar, to the chocolate coloured panelling at the Library of the Royal College of Physicians, or the gold-panelled ceiling of the Advocates Library, this soft-bound tomb is a reminder that books are more than just forms of entertainment or escapism. They are also beautiful objects, and often downright luxurious.

Inside Edinburgh has been published by Birlinn, Scotland’s Largest Independent Publisher. I couldn’t resist asking them if perhaps they could sponsor a copy for one of my Edinburgh-loving readers to win in a giveaway. They said YES! In thanks, please take a moment with me to send them page-turning sensual vibrations.

So yes, I have a copy of Inside Edinburgh to send to one very lucky person.

To enter to win this 200+ page dream book:

       Leave a comment below about the interior of a building that has inspired you. Any building, any country - just something that fills you with pleasure and awe that you would recommend to others to see.

       If you don’t have a blog to link back to, you can email me your inspiring interior comment to scotland4thesenses@gmail.com Please include “Inside Edinburgh” in the subject line.

Deadline for entries is Saturday, 27 November. I shall draw the name and announce the winner on Sunday 28 November. Also, if you would like to peruse more of Birlinn’s titles, you can visit their website. They have a write-up about Inside Edinburgh on their blog.

Bookshop heaven in Perthshire

We arrived at The Watermill bookstore in Aberfeldy just as it opened. The sun was glaring off the sheen of fresh rain and a chill hung in the air, the kind that digs into your bones if you don't keep moving.

The door handle creaked as we went in and the first thing that hit my senses was the scent of wood smoke from the stove in the café downstairs. Right away I knew that this was my kind of place.

Before it became a bookshop, The Watermill, which is on three floors, was restored from a derelict state by a miller who used it to produce oatmeal in the traditional way. When he died the mill was put up for sale and was reinvented again as the bookshop.

Shelves and tables have been constructed around the dark sturdy beams and machinery from the old mill. This gives much of the main floor the kind of intricate clutter that book lovers adore, because we can get lost in it and still feel completely at home.

The feeling of contentment continued as we went upstairs, which houses an art gallery. I loved the sparse display of art books among the steel gears or propped against the stone wall.

The occasional white wall and the peaked ceiling with a well-placed skylight helped to give the space a gentle glow.

I could hear the intermittent murmuring of voices from downstairs, but as there was no one else in the gallery it seemed a world apart. Great moments of silence pushed against the walls.

Whoever designed this bookshop is a retail genius. For example, the children’s section on the main floor is reached by going through an open doorway that leads into a long, enclosed room with shelves right to the floor a high number of books facing the viewer.

It is the modern equivalent of walking into a painted cave. What imaginative child wouldn’t want to spend an entire afternoon tucked into one of those corners with some magnificent tale propped up on her knees?

Another brilliant move was deciding to house the travel section downstairs next to the cafe.

Think about it: there you are in your wee world of escape, sitting on a big sofa with your coffee and your fresh scone. Surrounding you are stacks of books tempting you with tales of even greater escape and adventure.

Every element of this bookstore has been planned with the pleasure of the customer in mind, using many of the structure’s original features. I like to think it was in honour of the miller who first lovingly restored the unique historical building.

Perhaps you have a love of old stone buildings. Perhaps you also enjoy bookshops. Or cafes. Well this is a gorgeously designed bookshop inside of a quaint stone building in the middle of stunning Perthshire, with a café (with a woodstove)! I think I may have to move in. Who’s coming with me?

To read more about Scotland’s unique bookshops, check out this list in the Guardian. The Watermill's own site is http://www.aberfeldywatermill.com/

Kicking Monday in the strawberries (& shortbread)

Monday. For those of us dancing the 9-5 ceilidh, Monday can be a weighty, gloomy time, a time when the rest of the week hoves into view like a parade of grey clouds spelling out “here we go again.” Like many people I have a variety of tactics in order to ease those tuneless Monday morning blues.

Denial: Trying to tell yourself you’re just going for a nice walk when your inner psyche knows you’re on your way to the office is fairly useless and likely to make things so much worse upon arrival at your place of work.

Escapism: Listening to a great audio book before and after work can be helpful but the gluttonous world of fictional goodness can be hard to maintain over long periods surrounded by the dreaded beast of reality.

Doggedly doing one task after another while continually glancing at the clock and trying to will it to move just a little faster: depressing as hell.

Tonight I tried something new. My idea was to sneak up and surprise Monday. Monday expects me to eat something quick and bland when I get home, because this matches the whole start-of-the-week theme. But instead of pasta or steamed veggies, tonight I had this:

Say hello to homemade Balmoral Shortbread Biscuits, early season Scottish strawberries and CREAM. Take THAT, Monday!

You can do this, too. Look Monday straight in her pointy little face and laugh. Then meet me in the kitchen.

Step 1. Make your strawberries and cream. Get yourself a small mountain of strawberries (a pound or more). Slice up the larger ones and leave the wee ones whole. Whip up some whipping cream. Combine the strawberries and the whipping cream, smashing and mashing the berries and you mix.

You will need to overwhelm the cream with the strawberries, so they are not lost in the white clouds but bursting forth with red juicy exuberance. Once the strawberries are all mixed in, sprinkle some caster sugar on top and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Step 2: Make your shortbread. For the Balmoral Shortbread, I’ve used the recipe from Catherine Brown’s book, Classic Scots Cookery. (Apparently Queen Victoria was quite fond of these biscuits). The recipe is straight forward and not for those who are afraid of butter - a lot of butter. We’re battling Monday here people! This is not the time for counting calories.

Begin by mixing 250 grams butter with 125 grams caster sugar. Squidge it up really well. Then add 375 grams sifted flour a little at a time, until you have a firm yet pliable dough. I ended up having to add extra flour because my dough was too sticky to roll, but just feel your way through it.

Roll the dough on a floured surface (about a ¼ inch thick) and cut into wee rounds. Put them on a cookie sheet and use a fork to create a little definition before popping them into a 350 F oven until they are lightly browned. The recipe says 30 minutes but mine didn’t take that long so I would advise keeping an eye on them. I overdid some and they don’t taste as nice.

While they are baking, the heavenly scent of butter merging with sugar will begin to plume from the kitchen and this will cause you to lumber around your house in a dreamy state of pleasure.

When they are done, removed them from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar while they are still warm. Let them cool on a rack. Don’t try to eat one right away because the butter makes them very hot. Trust me.

There you have it. I hereby give you permission to eat this on a Monday evening instead of a proper meal. It will do you good. And believe me, when confronted with such brazen extravagance, Monday doesn’t stand a chance.

Armchair travels: My favourite Scotland guidebooks

There is nothing like being stuck indoors on a beautiful day, with a cold that won’t quit. It started on Monday after we got back from Balquhidder and is just hanging on. To top off the sniffling and body ache, it has crept into my chest and I now have a terrible hollow cough.

As I sit here in my pathetic state, I think longingly of all the places I want to visit around Scotland. Helping my mind become a pinball game of ideas and inspiration is the small cascade of guidebooks I have managed to accumulate over the past 5 years.

The first book was a recent birthday gift from my Scotsman. It is not one I can lug around with me because it is 500 pages of hardcover goodness. Hamish Haswell-Smith’s The Scottish Islands details not only those islands popular with tourists, but all the uninhabited islands as well.

Each entry includes a map and information about the island’s geography, ownership, population, history, and wildlife. If you had a mind to visit all of the islands listed in this book you would have to make it your life’s work.

From the largest book to the smallest: I love my copy of Richard Rowe’s Wildlife Traveller for the Scottish Mainland.

The book is chopped up into five sections around Scotland, in which several of the best wildlife watching options are listed, complete with directions on how to get there, the best time of year to visit and things to look out for when you’re there.

Published by Pocket Mountains, this is one of a wide series of handy small guides for Scotland.

The next two guides are ones I often refer to and tend to carry around with me if JP and I are heading out for an adventure without a definite plan of what we are doing.

They are my property guides for Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland, which I received with my membership to both organizations. With my membership cards I can get in free to any of the properties, so I am keen not to pass up an opportunity to visit a building or site I haven’t seen before.

Both books provide directions and background to their properties, as well as area maps in which a multitude of sites are dotted to help visitors plan tours of more than one site in a day.

 I mean, if you’re already stopping at the Falkland Palace and Gardens, why not swing past the Royal Burgh of Culross?

Hot off the press for the summer is the 17th edition of The List’s Eating and Drinking Guide for Edinburgh and Glasgow. If you already like to eat out, this will make your life even more delectably difficult, as the magazine is nearly 200 pages of temptation.

After introducing this year’s Eating and Drinking awards, including the reader’s awards and newcomers of the year, the magazine launches into various “hitlist” sections for the two cities, covering arts venues and bistros, to world cuisine and even suggestions for best late night dining or eateries known for responsible food sourcing (local, seasonal and/or organic).

The “Scottish” section is also helpful for visitors looking for suggestions on where to eat in order to sample some of the best the country has to offer.

The book I take with me the most is my old, beat up copy of The Rough Guide to Scotland. It is outdated now (2004) but it remains a great general reference for places to see and bus/train information.

This is the book I had with us when JP and I attempted to camp up north last May and were forced to sleep in the car when a gale was battering our tent. The tent and the book were blown away in the night and while the tent did not survive the ordeal, my Rough Guide dried out on the dash board and now wears its warped pages like a an old battlehorse.

A note for foodies: I don’t find this the best reference when it comes to good places to eat, but there are other books for that.

Sue Lawrence’s A Cook’s Tour of Scotland is not officially a guidebook, but with its combination of recipes and stories from around the country, it is a perfect way to turn your kitchen into a taste-of-Scotland experiment.

From seaweed “tartare sauce” to Orkney fudge cheesecake, Fife miner’s stew and tattie soup, it remains my favourite cookbook of the past few years.

Filed under quaint and quirky comes one of my favourite guidebooks: Scotland Recommends.

Published by Edinburgh’s Luath Press, the book was born from a series of supplements in the Scotsman Newspaper in 2007. It features wonderful lists like “best high level drives,” “Wishing wells and trees,” and “places to fly kites.”

How else would I have found out about things like the Robert the Bruce yew tree in Inchlongaig, or that Brodick Castle and Country Park is one of the best places in the country to see Red Squirrels? From dive sites to delicatessens, caves to cathedrals, this wee book is a treasure trove of local gems. More information from www.scotsman.com/recommends

Finally, my favourite foodie guide, a new publication from The List and the Scottish Organic Producer’s Association. The Larder is the first place I turn for information on Scotland’s food and drink because it is thorough and showcases the best Scotland has to offer.

It’s not just a list of farm shops or restaurants; it provides background on the products themselves, like an overview of Scottish cheeses and two pages dedicated to “oat cuisine.” Highlights include a guide to cooking shellfish, where to find the best grass-fed beef, and a behind-the-scenes look at Scotland’s soft fruit industry.

The word is a second edition of The Larder should be out in September, and that a separate edition has been commissioned for the Kingdom of Fife.

I have a few more guidebooks besides these, but I thought I would just list the ones I use most often. The one book I don’t yet have, which I have heard that many Scots swear by, is Peter Irvine’s Scotland the Best.

Now it is time to get things organized for a bit of cooking, as I attempt to create a beef casserole cooked with the Hebridean Brewing Company’s Islander Ale. It is a simple casserole of beef and onions and the goal is to cook it in the oven for 4-5 hours at a low setting. Fingers crossed it turns out well.

Thanks for visiting me. Do you have any favourite guidebooks to Scotland?

The winner is...

My cold has woken me up early (sniff) so I've popped the last minute names into the hat, given the whole thing a swirl and voila! We have a winner.

The person who will be subjected to being my reading partner is Susan, an avid reader who is intrigued by the story of one of her ancestors from the 1800s who had 12 -count them - 12 children.

I only have the one copy to give away, but if anyone else has a copy of Magnus Magnusson's book and would like to email conversation as we commence this epic 700-page journey, the more the merrier.

Congratulations, Susan! Please email me your address and I shall post this tomb of history directly to your door. Thanks to everyone for joining in.

Love Scottish history? Then you will love this giveaway.

“For three billion years Scotland was on a collision course with England.”

This is how Magnus Magnusson begins the first chapter in his book Scotland: Story of a Nation, a non-fiction whopper that outlines Scotland’s past from pre-historic times right up to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1997.

I have had a copy of this book for about three years. Over and over I pick it up with great intentions to plough through to the end, picking up story ideas as I go. However like many good intentions in my life, some other shiny thing inevitably comes along and then I’m on to something else.

For weeks I have been struggling with what to do for a giveaway this month. This month marks the one-year anniversary of this blog, and it is my own birthday in a couple of weeks so I wanted it to be special. I thought about re-doing the tablet feast, but changed my mind. I also skimmed through Cds, books and DVDs. Nothing seemed to fit.

But I thought: It’s my birthday. What do I want?

Then it came to me: what I want is a reading partner who will read this book with me. Someone who will open to page one at the same time as me and help keep me motivated until the end.

I make it sound like this book will be one of those dry, historic timeline slogs that we remember from our school days. It is nothing like that. Each chapter begins with a quote from Sir Walter Scott’s Tales of a Grandfather, another book that is on my lengthy “to read” list.

Magnusson himself was (sadly he passed away in 2007) a wonderful storyteller, able to take historical events and bring them to life. He added character to historical figures without straying from the known facts that bind them within Scotland’s past.

Yes, there are many other books on Scotland’s history, including Michael Lynch’s popular Scotland: A New History, and the new History of Scotland from BBC presenter Neil Oliver. However I am unable to move on to other works until I finish this bountiful offering.

So, what do you think? Any takers? Keep in mind that for all its wonders, it is a hefty read at nearly 700 pages.

The rules for this giveaway:

-You must love to read
-You must be interested in history and Scottish history in particular
-You must be prepared to be my reading partner, emailing back an fourth occasionally to swap feedback about the book and encouragement if one of us (probably me) is lagging behind.
-I would like your permission to post your reactions/thoughts about the book on this blog.

Now that you know the rules here’s how to enter:

To put you hand up to win this book, please leave a comment about your favourite story or character in Scottish history, being sure that your comment links back to your blog. You can also enter by emailing me at scotland4thesenses@googlemail.com and including “Magnus Magnusson rocks my world” in the subject line.

I’m away until Tuesday, although not to Paris because the lovely volcanic ash cloud has seen to it that my holiday with my friend is cancelled. My beloved has offered to be my holiday partner instead, although we don’t have any plans yet.

The deadline to get your name in the hat will be Tuesday 20 April. I will draw the name on Wednesday and post the name of the winner.

Thank you, good people of clan blog.

*This giveaway has now finished. Congratulations Susan, who is the lucky winner of the book**

Dusting off a literary gem

All day there has been trouble with Blogger and photos not showing up. I think it may be fixed now, but let us pretend that it’s not. Let us pretend there is a storm outside (actually there is. The rain is lashing in from the side like countless frozen kamikaze pilots). Let us also pretend the power is out, the candles are lit, and it is time for a story.

A few months ago some friends of mine in Canada saw a book in a charity shop and bought it for me. First published in in 1991 by Aberdeen University Press, this book had managed to find its way from Scotland all the way to a bargin bin on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

It is The Land Out There: A Scottish Land Anthology.

This book is a sensualist’s dream and I absolutely love it. Compiled by the late poet and critic George Bruce (1909-2002), it is a treasure trove of poems, memoirs, interviews and stories about Scottish life, the land, the stones, the people. It is the kind of writing and story-telling that my mind wants to climb inside and experience, the way the cold water thrillingly creeps around you when you walk into a northern loch. You can feel it everywhere; that’s what this writing does for me.

There are fantastic titles that lure you into each story. Titles like He Learns about Lifting the Peats (F.G. Rea), Life At The Bu - A Farm in Orkney (Edwin Muir), and The Solitary Crofter (Neil Gunn).

A quick Google search has revealed only a couple of places where one can still buy this book, including Barns & Noble and Bigger Books. They are used and all prices seem to be in US Dollars, which leads me to believe that copies in the UK are few and far between. However I believe many of the libraries around Scotland still possess copies.

If you love Scotland and ever have the opportunity to read all or any part of this wonderful collection, lunge at it. Once you hold this precious book in your hands, make a cup of tea, sit down by the fire, and let the stories float up at you like steam. I know I will be using this book for reference and inspiration for years to come.

The following are two excerpts that I particularly enjoyed:

From Between the Sea and Moor by Iain Crichton Smith:

My house lay between the sea and the moor; which was often red with heather, on which one would find larks’ nests, where one would gather blaeberries: the moor scarred with peat banks, spongy underfoot: blown across by the wind (for there is no land barer than Lewis).

From Walking Into the Past, by Alexander Smith:

Walking into the Interior of Skye is like walking into antiquity; the present is behind you, your face is turned toward Ossian. In the quiet silent wilderness you think of London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, or whatever great city it may be given you to live and work in, as of something of which you were cognisant in a former existence. Not only do you breathe the air of antiquity; but everything about you is veritable antique. The hut by the road-side, thatched with turfs, smoke issuing from the roof, is a specimen of one of the oldest styles of architecture in the world.

Finally, a poem by Maurice Lindsay. As soon as I read it I thought “I know her.” Because this is just how I feel when I get a whole, dreamy Sunday in my kitchen.

Farm Woman

She left the warmth of her body tucked round her man
before first light, for the byre, where mist and the moist
hot breaths of the beasts half-hid the electric veins
of the milking machines. Later, she’d help to hoist
the heavy cans for the tractor to trundle down
to the farm-road end, while her raw hands scoured the dairy.
By seven o’clock, she’d have breakfast on the table,
her kitchen bright as her apron pin, the whole house airy.
Her men-folk out in the fields, the children off to school,
she’d busy herself with the house and the hens. No reasons
clouded the other side of the way she brought
to her man the generous amplitude of the seasons

Not much of a life, they’d whisper at church soirees
as they watched her chat, her round face buttered with content,
unable to understand that for her each moment
rubbed out the one before, and simply lent
nothing for words of their to touch to argument

Porridge and Ghosts: Winter Staples (& treats!)

The start of the dark season is filled with so many wonderful distractions in Scotland. It seems to me that the Scottish take the coming of winter very seriously, as along with the growing shadows and the wind that turns the body to an icy sponge, there is a sense of ritual, of facing off with the gloom.

This post is dedicated to two staples of Scottish life: a hot bowl of porridge, and a good ghost story.

First, to porridge. Dear reader, I ask you to lift your spoon in salute, for today is a great day. Yes, today the World Porridge Making Championships took place in Carrbridge in Inverness-shire. Known as The Golden Spurtle, this competition takes place each year in celebration of one of Scotland’s most beloved dishes. Contestants from around the world have taken part, and today American Matthew Fox was awarded the coveted golden spurtle trophy.

The organizers of The Golden Spurtle event have taken their passion one step further and teamed up with the Scottish Charity Mary’s Meals, to dub today World Porridge Day in a bid to help feed children in some of the poorest countries in the world.

But I digress. What on earth is a spurtle? Dating from the 15th century, the dowel-like spurtle has a place in most Scottish kitchens, where it is used to stir soups and (you guessed it) porridge.

I was unable to make it to this year’s big event, however I still wanted to mark the occasion, so on Saturday I wandered over to Edinburgh’s Farmers' Market. There in the centre of the market, just where I knew it would be, sat the wee Stoats Porridge hut.

I love the Stoats Porridge people. They don’t just offer pots of organic porridge, they tempt us with porridge with white chocolate and toasted hazelnuts, or whisky, honey and cream, or the always popular Cranachan recipe, which features raspberries, honey and cream.

If you don’t fancy a pot of porridge, you can buy one of the bars and become utterly, hopelessly addicted until you find yourself offering to bribe the salespeople for the recipe. On Saturday I opted to skip my usual choice of white chocolate and hazelnuts and go for a Cranachan porridge. And the lovely porridge girl even let me take her photo - hurrah!

As my own way of encouraging Scotland lovers to dig out their oats and get cooking, I am giving away a spurtle! Alas, it’s not golden - it’s beech wood. But it does come with a little recipe attached so you can get cooking right away.

But wait! Before you throw your name in the hat for the Scottish spoon of excellence, what about ghosts? Didn’t I say that the dark season was full of delightful distractions?

The annual atmosphere of eeriness is being set around the country, with various events marking the approach of Samhain, better known as Halloween. The Pagan New Year, Samhain is a time for telling stories and honouring the thinning veil between our worlds. In Edinburgh, the various ghost tours become busier as the flying leaves and black cobbles give the evening walks an extra ambience of the other-worldly.

The Scottish Storytelling Festival will soon be kicking off, with events planned around Scotland. As always it includes a special session dedicated to ghost stories on Halloween night. I have attended this event in the past and the walk home always takes on a wonderful chill that delights me in ways I cannot describe.

Over in the forests of Perthshire, the lights of the Enchanted Forest will once again astound visitors. The theme for this year’s event, which also ends 1 November, is Scottish Myths and Legends.

If you’re looking for the basis of a ghost story to tell your kids this autumn, there is nothing like a good old fashioned haunting, and Scotland has no shortage of buildings said to house restless spirits. The second edition of Martin Coventry’s Haunted Places of Scotland has just come out, and this is my second treat for the month of October.

But here’s the rub: you have to choose. Do you want to throw your name into hat for the spurtle, symbol of Scottish porridge goodness? Or do you want to read through a list of frightening spectres like the phantom coach of Dumfries House or the spirit of the monk said to haunt to cloister area of Melrose Abbey?

As usual, entering is as easy as leaving a comment and specifying your choice of the porridge hat or the haunted hat. To comment on this post is to enter your name in the draw, so if you don’t specify a choice, I will choose for you and you will just have to be surprised. If you don’t have a blog that you can link back to, you can email me at scotland4thesenses@googlemail.com and include “porridge ghosts!” in the subject line. Those who won the last giveaway won’t be able to play this time around, but you can join in again for November.

I’ll be drawing the names on 17 October, so get your names in before then!

***********This giveaway has now finished. Congrats to Chris and Deb Salisbury:)********************