Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Old photograph of Finzean House by Banchory, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Joseph Farquharson died on 15 April 1935 at Finzean, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He combined a long and prolific career as a painter with his inherited role as a Scottish laird. He painted in both oils and water colours. His mother, a celebrated beauty, was an Ainslie. His early days were spent in his father's house in Northumberland Street below Queen Street Gardens and later at Eaton Terrace beyond the Dean Bridge, Edinburgh and at Finzean, the family estate in the highlands. His father Francis was a doctor and laird of Finzean. Joseph was educated in Edinburgh and permitted by his father to paint only on Saturdays using his father's paint box. When Joseph reached the age of 12, Francis Farquharson bought his son his first paints and only a year later he exhibited his first painting at the Royal Scottish Academy.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of people having a picnic on the coast by Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Around 1600, Stranraer had become the market town for western Wigtownshire. At about this time, Stranraer was reached by a military road built from Dumfries to allow easier access to Portpatrick for transportation of people to Ireland for the Plantation of Ulster. Stranraer became a royal burgh in 1617. The first harbour in Stranraer was built in the middle of the 18th century, with further port development in the 1820s. The arrival of the railway from Dumfries in 1861, which closed in 1965), which gave the shortest journey to/from London, England, established Stranraer as the area's main port. In 1862, the line was extended to serve the harbour directly, and a link to Portpatrick was also opened. In 1877, a rail connection north to Girvan and Glasgow was also established. Stranraer remained the main Scottish port for the Irish ferries for the next 150 years or so.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of a road trip drive from the Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy Junction of the M90 motorway North to visit the Moto Service Station by Kinross, Perthshire, Scotland. Kinross is the most northern motorway service area in the UK. The service station is located next to the M90 motorway and is accessed using motorway junction 6 in both the north bound and south bound directions. The following facilities can be found here; Costa Coffee, Burger King, WHSmith, M&S Simply Food, Toilets, Kids Play Area, Payphones, Cash Machine and Travelodge.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland video of an afternoon drive North up the M90 motorway from the Moto Service Station by Kinross over Friarton Bridge to visit Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. Friarton Bridge to visit Perth, Perthshire. Friarton bridge spans the River Tay and forms part of the important east coast road corridor from Edinburgh through to Dundee and Aberdeen. in the distance you can see Kinnoull Hill a popular walking area by Perth. I often drive this road when returning to Scone from Fife or Edinburgh.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the Temperance Hotel in Elgin, a former cathedral city and Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. The Temperance Scotland Act 1913 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom under which voters in small local areas in Scotland were enabled to hold a poll to vote on whether their area remained " wet " or went " dry, " that is, whether alcoholic drinks should be permitted or prohibited. The decision was made on a simple majority of votes cast. The Act was a result of the strong temperance movement in Scotland before the First World War. Brewers and publicans formed defence committees to fight temperance propaganda. Elgin town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the floodplain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190 AD. It was created a Royal Burgh in the 12th century by King David I of Scotland. On 19 July 1224, the foundation stone of the new Elgin Cathedral was ceremoniously laid. The cathedral was completed sometime after 1242 but was completely destroyed by fire in 1270. In the 19th century the old medieval town of Elgin was swept away. The first major addition to the town centre was the Assembly Rooms, built in 1821 by the Trinity Lodge of Freemasons, at the corner of High Street and North Street. The Morayshire Railway was officially opened in ceremonies at Elgin and Lossiemouth on 10 August 1852. William Dunbar was born in 1749 in Thunderton House, Elgin. He was the youngest son of Sir Archibald Dunbar and Anne Bayne Dunbar. In 1763 he attended King's College, Aberdeen, and graduated from there in 1767. He emigrated to America arriving in Philadelphia in April 1771. In 1773 he and a Scottish merchant opened a cotton plantation in Florida and in 1792 opened another plantation in Mississippi. Dunbar became surveyor general in the Natchez area in 1798 and making his first meteorological observations in the Mississippi Valley in 1799. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him and fellow Scot Dr George Hunter to explore the Ouachita River region and travel all the way to the source of the Red River. They set out on 16 October 1804, traveling up the Ouachita River and on to the area of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Dunbar became the first man to give a scientific report of the hot springs, and his journal of the exploration was later published in Documents Relating to the Purchase and Exploration of Louisiana. He died in 1887. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
