A luxury log cabin with hot tub in the South of Scotland has won Best Green Holiday Home from the European Holiday Home Awards. Reiver’s Hideaway, located in Melrose, is new this year to the cottage offering from Eildon Melrose Holiday Cottages and Log Cabins, and a second log cabin is already scheduled for construction…
Read more
The South of Scotland Enterprise has launched its first ever engagement tour of the South of Scotland, visiting 24 villages and towns across the region. The first meeting was held today, 8 November, in Dumfries and further meetings are running until March 2022. There are also two virtual events for those unable to attend in-person.…
Read more
The Station House Cookery School has been awarded a prestigious kitemark of quality and accreditation from leading regulatory body, the Independent Cookery School Association (ICSA). The school, based in the picturesque fishing town of Kirkcudbright, in Dumfries and Galloway runs a variety of culinary courses to train both novice cooks and aspiring chefs in a…
Read more
£240K FUNDING BOOST FOR THE SOUTH The SSDA are delighted to be awarded funding from VisitScotland’s Destination and Sector Marketing Fund and the Destination Leadership Recovery fund. We will be implementing the awards until March, working with businesses across the South of Scotland on marketing and product development activities. Local destination groups also recently awarded…
Read more
The latest survey of Scotland’s visitor attractions has revealed that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to devastate the sector – and it has seen no evidence of a ‘staycation boom’. Less than half of the sector (48.1%) is currently fully open and more than one in ten attractions remain closed. A further 40.9%…
Read more
Literary giants Hilary Mantel and Alexander McCall Smith, crime-writing royalty Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Christopher Brookmyre and Denise Mina and political leaders Ed Balls, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband are just a few of the highlights of the 2021 Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival, this year being held in November at Abbotsford, home of Sir…
Read more
As Wigtown Book Festival gets underway authors have spoken about the urgent need to support and value Scotland’s cultural events. The festival is running a £25,000 Book it and Spread the Word fundraising appeal to help secure its future and ensure it thrives. Let’s hope a massive success this year will secure its future – Val McDermid After…
Read more
Wigtown Book Festival enjoyed a successful first weekend – welcoming visitors back to Scotland’s National Book Town for a wide variety of events. These ranged from talks by household names like Alexander McCall Smith and locally-based writers such as Patrick Laurie, through to pop-up opera from Scottish Opera, to theatre performances and nature walks. At…
Read more
Pop-up talks With excitement building before the return of the Galloway Hoard to the region in October, a series of mini pop-up events focussing on the story of its discovery will travel to sites around Galloway. The Galloway Hoard is the richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland.…
Read more
Belgian rider Yves Lampaert took Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s first victory of the AJ Bell Tour of Britain in Edinburgh on Saturday at the end of a stage dominated by a six-man breakaway group. Lampaert outsprinted Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team) and Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling’s Matt Gibson in the world-famous Holyrood Park after the trio broke…
Read more
