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Mhor Than a Scottish Country Inn
Story and photos by Reb Stevenson
PERTHSHIRE, SCOTLAND - A posh fish n’ chips shop, a back-to-basics cookery school, a rural tearoom, a traditional bakery, a working farm and a stylish boutique hotel: this is the mighty clan of Mhor.
Set amongst the Scottish Highlands in Trossachs National Park, Mhor is a vertically integrated tourism product masterminded by award winning chef Tom Lewis.
“We’ve got so much on our doorstep, it makes it easy,” says Lewis.
It started simply enough: once upon a time Lewis’ mom hung a sign reading “Tea and Scones” outside their pink farmhouse. Read More...
The Big Picture: Uplifting Elevator
Tonight I’m staying in Edinburgh’s brand new Hotel Missoni, which just opened last week. It’s all funky and colourful and super stylish - quite the contrast from the drab grey architecture outside. Couldn’t resist this shot in the elevator. And yes, someone walked in while I was lying on the floor. Of course.
www.hotelmissoni.com
The Big Picture: Want Chips with That?
Will That Be Sadistic Stories with Your Stay?
BY REB STEVENSON
The discussion is of blood, murder and general gore.
And David Sinclair, assistant manager at Borthwick Castle in Scotland, is defending his ancestors.
"It was just second nature to them," he shrugs.
For eight years he has been dispensing some of the most macabre hotel lore you'll ever hear, so I keep my distance. Located in North Middleton, about 20 minutes south of Edinburgh, Borthwick Castle is an unpretentious boutique hotel that catapults you into another era: a time of raucous banquets, lords and ladies and barbaric extracurricular activities.
READ ON HERE.
Barbaric Borthwick!
After a month solid of labouring on farms through the wwoof scheme, I figured it was time to shed my Cinderella alter-ego and return to my royal roots (bet you didn’t know I was the Duchess of Delusions).
So I hauled my dirt-encrusted self to Borthwick Castle in Scotland. This 15th century fortified dwelling has been a hotel for some 30 years, and at 120 to 200 pounds per night, it’s a swanky affair indeed.
However, don’t let that price convince you that everything’s safe n’ sound ‘round Borthwick.
If you look closely at the exterior of the Castle, you will note two square towers. Between them is the chasm known in the days of yore as the “Prisoner’s Leap.” Lord Borthwick, exhibiting a playful side, held an annual sporting event for his prisoners: they would be granted complete freedom if they could jump across the 12-foot wide gap between the towers. The only catch: their hands were tied behind their backs AND their legs were adorned with a big ole ball and chain. Oh, and a cluster of spikes below ensured complete, total and utter death (as though the 100 foot drop wouldn’t do the trick).
Did anyone ever make it? “No,” assistant manager David Sinclair told me with absolute certainty.
Well, they say that the colour red actually whets one’s appetite. And so I hopped from the “Prisoner’s Leap” to the Great Hall for dinner. It seems that little has changed since the days when Mary, Queen of Scots stayed here. The Great Hall is stony and moody, rich with the complimentary aromas of the ever-crackling wood fire and the meat cooking in the adjacent kitchen.
The hostess gazed upon me with that “you’re alone, what a shame” look and sat me down with a family of four: the Wanners. It turns out that dad Kirby, mom Francine and sibs Emma, 10 and Cole, 8, are a Calgarian family who have swapped Alberta for Nice, France for a year (can you blame them? You can check out the blog chronicling their experiences abroad at www.mytripjournal.com/wannerfamily).
Cole, a smiley little chap blessed with superb dimples, tucked into his salmon with gusto. Emma settled on the chicken fingers, declaring that she would “rather attempt the jump” than let haggis anywhere near her mouth.
Figuring that if you’re going to try haggis, you may as well try it in a castle, I ordered the traditional Scottish dish, complete with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). I deliberately avoiding googling or wikipedia-ing haggis prior to my arrival- who needs a reminder that it is essentially organ potpourri? This ignorance served me well as - lo and behold - it was shockingly tasty!
Despite its imposing structure, Borthwick Castle is an intimate hotel There are only 10 rooms, all of which deliver that authentic castle feel. And due to conservation issues there is no television. That’s okay, you can entertain yourself by perspiring in bed as your imagination runs wild, especially if you’re in The Red Room...(cue music from “The Shining”)...
Several of the rooms at Borthwick - including The Red Room - have tiny little cubby holes (now converted to bathrooms) once known as Luggies Coves. A maid would stow away in the cove 24/7, awaiting further instruction from the tenant of the bedchamber. But one of the many Lord Borthwicks got serviced well beyond the routine chamber pot disposal, and the poor maid wound up pregnant. To avoid any claims to the family fortune, gentle Borthwick sent two guards into The Red Room, where the maid was on duty in the Luggies Cove. They dragged her out and savagely murdered her on the spot. Apparently the room was saturated with blood.
Of course, the usual compendium of ghost stories started trickling in. So in the 1970s, Borthwick Castle actually hired an exorcist. Sinclair reports that while the hauntings subsided, a mysterious feminine form appeared on the mantlepiece shortly thereafter. If you fancy a round of “magic eye,” just gaze at the picture below and try to imagine a pregnant woman lying on her back (head is on the left).
I would tell you more about Borthwick Castle but I’ve just noticed a bizarre swirl in my haggis, and it looks kinda like SEAN CONNERRY!!!!! Whoops, is he still alive? Crap. It must be WILLIAM WALLACE!!!!! Sending out a press release, pronto.