From Scotland with Love: vampires, toilet murals and groovy maps
a newsletter for the curious and creative
R&A World Golf Museum
St Andrews, Fife
Golf is not a sporting pursuit that sets me on fire, but I am a sucker for a vintage travel poster and 1920s/30s outfits. So, perhaps this might keep your pilot light on too. The Royal and Ancient World Golf Museum in St Andrews explores the past, present and future of golf, including plenty of artworks. The museum objects span over 400 years of the game and those who play it. Also, on 19th June there’s a museum talk on the history of golfing dress.
Bestest ever map of Fife!
And while we’re in Fife, check out this groovy interactive tube style map for North Fife. this makes me want to spend a month visiting all the stops. Proof, if it were needed, that there’s a lot more to Fife than its coastline.
Victoria Park toilet murals
Victoria Park, Glasgow
Funding was secured by Victoria Park Community Trust to commission Glasgow-based street mural artist FRODRIK. The portacabin toilets were upgraded but needed an aesthetic boost around the theme of birdlife on the pond.
See the artist’s latest works and follow on Instagram
Frigjøringskonvoien 2025 (The Liberation Convoy)
Edinburgh
25th - 30th May
Brought to my attention by The Edinburgh Minute. Having worked on ships, I enjoy a good nosy around a vintage vessel and thought you might feel the same. This convoy of six boats from Norway that served in WWII is on a tour of the UK east coast. These fully restored vessels have been transformed into floating museums and making a final stop in Edinburgh before moving south to Newcastle. The cargo ship D/S Hestmanden, aka “The Lucky Ship”, also survived WWI. It retains its original steam boiler, engine, and auxiliary equipment from 1911. Hestmanden will be docked at Ocean Terminal in Leith all this week. Un-ticketed and free entry to explore the vessel and get a guided tour.
Danger Came Smiling new exhibition
Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh
23rd May - 19th October 2025
This exhibition at Inverleith House Gallery spills outside into the Botanics. It explores five decades of photomontage and print work by pioneering artist Linder Sterling, involved in the punk scene in Manchester late 1970s. This is the first retrospective of Linder’s work in Scotland.
Look out for Botanics Late event on 20th June with an after-hours ticket for a night out at the exhibition with live music, food and drink.
Immersive photography weekend retreats
Marcassie Farm, Moray
14th - 15th June
Kim Grant Photography offers immersive, mindful photography retreats at Marcassie Farm in secluded, peaceful surroundings. You can rent one of the farm lodges on site or book your own accommodation nearby. There are three spaces left, waiting to be snapped up on the 14th - 15th June retreat. I’m so tempted right now to be one of those three.
Gaelic waulking songs workshop
Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh
7th June
The Scottish tradition of ‘waulking’ the urine-soaked tweed cloth to thicken and soften the texture came with its own style of songs to keep the work at a rhythmic pace. I’m sure this also made the hand-wrecking hard work bearable and sociable. Now you can time travel to the Scottish Storytelling Centre to learn some of the songs that grew from this ritual. Katie Macfarlane, a talented Gaelic singer from Airdrie, leads this one-time workshop - suitable also for non-Gaelic speakers. Get tickets here.
Stay in the hotel where Dracula was conceived
Cruden Bay
One of Scotland’s oldest hotels is Kilmarnock Arms Hotel situated on a coastal road in the North East of Scotland, between Aberdeen and Peterhead. Its neighbour is Slains Castle, believed to be the location for Dracula’s first appearance in the famous novel and the inspiration behind some of the descriptions of Dracula’s castle.
Bram Stoker stayed in this hotel several times whilst writing the Dracula story. You can view the guestbook with his signatures. He was inspired by the gothic treachery of this desolate granite-cliffed coastline with its dark, unforgiving North Sea waves. This coastline harbours a history of tales of shipwrecks and is a haven for sea life and birds, including puffins. Bram Stoker was known to would walk for hours there on his month-long holidays away from the city stour of London.
The author was a regular visitor to the North east and wrote two books featuring Cruden Bay: The Watter’s Mou’ and The Mystery of the Sea. He also wrote The Lair of the White Worm in 1910 at a nearby village. If you’re a fan of Bram Stoker, planning a trip there or just curious about his connection to Scotland, download a PDF of Bram Stoker themed walks in the area around The Kilmarnock Arms.
That’s all for this week, if you enjoyed this newsletter do click the like button to let me know.
From Scotland, with love.