We stayed in Fortingall, a place so steeped in past history and religion that it left an impression on all of us, an experience that we still talk about to this day. We toured Fortingall with writer, historian and good friend of the Artizans Barry Dunford (Read: ‘Holy land of Scotland’), a remarkable man who introduced us to the ancient history of the ‘Culdees’, stone circles, standing stones and burial chambers. Barry put us all to shame with his energy as we walked to the foot of the mount. He is more than just an author and a historian, he is a lovely human being and a gentleman.

As night fell and the past crept over into the future…the silence was broken by our own in-house guitar players and singers: Glen Lyndsay and Paul Shields who kept our feet tapping with musical favourites.
Our stomachs were silenced by our in-house chef Duncan Thomson, who made his rendition of spaghetti Bolognese, filling us all to the gunnels.

We will be going back.

It’s amazing, the sites and places in Scotland that our own people don’t even know about is there!

By Paul Hunter.