The Morangie House Hotel is popular with visitors. It's close to the A9 in Tain so easy to get to and leave from. Views over the Dornoch Firth and the hills beyond leave us in no doubt of where we are. The large restaurant and bar are popular with locals and holiday makers alike for a simple dram, or lunch, or dinner. They're particularly convenient for people staying in Dornoch, because the hotel is only a few minutes drive over the bridge. Large portions of wholesome, interesting food are ideal when we've spent the day on the golf course. The Morangie House is owned by the same people as the Mansfield Castle Hotel and has the same warm welcome. It's more convenient to get to and the prices are more affordable, offering good value compared to the competition. Our feature picture shows the main building with conservatory restaurant, whilst the video slideshow provides views of reception, the bar and the restaurant. The hotel site tells us: "The hotel was originally built thanks to the success of the tea trade between India and Great Britain. Mr Joshua Taylor, a Victorian tea-planter and a bachelor who had made his fortune in India, left much of his wealth to his two nieces, Annie and Joanna MacDonald. Joanna, who was later to marry a Tain chemist, Mr Donald Fowler, Provost of the town between 1898 and 1910, used her share of the fortune to build a fine mansion in Tain, completed in 1902 by A Maitland and Sons, Architects. This family firm was founded in 1842 by Andrew Maitland of Keith, in Banffshire, the first architect of note to work in and around Tain and the man responsible for a number of fine buildings in the town, including the Royal Hotel, the Town Hall, the Parish (former Free) Church and the Tudor-gabled shops along the High Street. Not to be outdone, Annie, by now the widow of local farmer Mr Abner Gallie, decided to construct her own villa and commissioned the Maitlands to build Morangie House, which they completed a year later to her specifications, including a handsome square tower. Over the years there has been speculation that the two houses were the manifestation of some ill feeling between the sisters. A local businessman, who knew the family, suggests that this was not the case and that, whilst there may have been some natural sibling rivalry between them, rumours of a grand 'feud' were grossly exaggerated."

The Mansfield Castle Hotel in Tain offers an exceptional quality of accommodation at reasonable prices.  Walking in the door it really feels like a Scottish Castle - like we're honoured guests.  No wonder guests at Madonna's Skibo Castle wedding chose the Mansfield Castle as their hotel. We approach the hotel through a stone portal and up a long drive and park right outside the front door.  Inside we find a luxurious hallway which doubles as reception, a comfortable bar and two attractive dining rooms. Our feature photo shows the hotel from the front of the grounds, and the video slide show attempts to convey the warm, peaceful comfort of the main reception rooms. The hotel's site tells us: "Most of the 19 sumptuous bedrooms have stunning views over the Castle grounds, the Moray Firth to the south east and the Dornoch Firth to the north east. Each spacious room has its own distinctive character with a complimentary decanter of sherry and the famous Mansfield fluffy dog, which as well as providing a rather nice touch of humour also, when is placed outside your door, acts a Do Not Disturb signal for us. All rooms are en suite, some with Jacuzzis and each room has tea and coffee making facilities, hairdryers and television. The Tower Suite is perfect for the family, with two bedrooms, a spacious bathroom and an extremely comfortable tower lounge with breathtaking views from every room. If you are feeling a little adventurous, follow the original spiral staircase to the very top of the tower where there is virtually a 360 degree view."

Tain is an excellent base for holidays in Scotland.  It sits at the north east corner of Ross-Shire in the Highlands. Probably best known as the home of the excellent Glenmorangie single malt whisky, the town has a rich history and prosperous future.  With a population of 3,500 it's the largest town between Invergordon and Wick and almost as big as all of the towns in East Sutherland put together.  It has a Sherriff's Court, fast food outlets, 2 supermarkets and 2 excellent hotels. Find Tain just off the main A9 route which runs from Edinburgh to Thurso.  It's around 30 minutes north of Inverness and maybe an hour from Brora, further north.  Dornoch sits on the other side of the Firth, just a few miles across the water.  But before the bridge it was an hour's drive away.  Now it's just a few minutes. Special attractions include the distillery which provides an interesting tour and presentation of the art, and science, of producing single malt whisky.  The golf course is also well known.  Originally laid out by Old Tom Morris, the links offer an entertaining combination of challenges no golf visitor should miss. The community site tells us "Tain and the surrounding area have something for everyone. For those interested in history, it's is a delight. The town encompasses many beautiful buildings with distinctive architecture and the Tain museum is full of information to guide you through its distinctive history. For families visiting there are many leisure pursuits in and around Tain. The Tain links area contains a play park with football fields and interesting walks. There are a number of other established walks in and around Tain, to find out more click here. The Royal Academy community complex has a swimming pool, sports gyms and tennis courts. The Tennis Club also has quality floodlit tennis courts." Our picture features a view up the main street toward the town centre including the Old Town Hall, the Royal Hotel, the parish church and the museum. The video is a slideshow of some of the interesting sights in the town and the surrounding area.

Scottish Malt Whisky is my choice of cocktail, naturally enough. Up here it's impolite to drink anything else. Glen Moray wouldn't rank on my favourite malt whisky list, until it comes to price that is :-) but tonight it's my choice. To be fair this is a very quaffable malt whisky, with a softer, more rounded and fruity flavour. It's distilled in Elgin, the heart of the Speyside whisky region so the credentials are impeccable. There's nothing aggressive about Glen Moray. But my preference is for Highland Malts, from the northern distilleries at Dalmore, Glenmorangie, Clynelish, Old Pulteney. Thinking about it Glen Moray actually has a lot in common with Glenmorangie, which is how come there are a couple of bottles in my office. It's the only Speyside I'll buy, although the Macallan would join it, at the right price. Luckily our local store often has specials on malt whisky, and this week that's Glen Moray, so that'w why it'a tonights dram. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and if we're going to ring the changes there needs to a reason for selecting one over the others. And this is Scotland, after all - the land of famously short arms and deep pockets. Slainte.

Considering holidays in Scotland? What sort of weather can you expect for your outdoor activities Better than you might think! Today was a perfect example. The last weekend in September we have brilliant sunshine, with just a gentle breeze and a temperature in the low 60s( Farenheit of course). It was perfect for playing golf, or just about anything really. Well maybe not sunbathing :-) In fact it was so nice I slipped away to take a couple of photographs. The main picture here is the view from the 18th green on Royal Dornoch Struie course looking across the Dornoch Firth to the Struie Hill and beyond, to the "West". Last summer I met a holiday maker in exactly this spot - I was coming back from a few holes in the evening with the dog. A native New Yorker, he enjoyed holidays in Scotland most years but couldn't stand the winters, or that's what he thought, until I told him about the weather here. It's infinitely better then New York, or Chicago, or London, or Singapore, or Sydney. In fact it's better than anywhere I've ever been, apart from San Francisco, probably. We never get so hot as to need air conditioning, even in the car. A day when temperatures stay below freezing is very rare, and a cold night in the winter won't get below 15 degrees Farenheit. We almost never get thunder storms and our rainfall is below average for the UK. In the depth's of winter we'll only get around 6 hours of daylight, but in summer we'll have more than 20. For outdoor activity holidays in Scotland the Highlands is the ideal destination. The weather is simply perfect - well most of the time. The video here shows golfers on their holidays playing golf on the ground - links golf. The hole they're playing is the 1st on the Royal Dornoch Struie course. It was originally laid out by Old Tom Morris and for years was part of the Championship course layout. The green is shallow, front to back, at no more than 10 paces. It's wide, at 30 paces left to right and slopes hard in the same direction. If an approach is going to reach the green and stay there the ball needs to land short and bounce up the steep slope at the front. Anything pitching the green will finish yards through the back. Any under hit approach will stick, or roll back into our own Valley of Sin. That's where these two finished up. Both putted up the slope, The first under hit and the ball came back to his feet. The second got it just right and was left with a tap in. This is a fabulous golf hole you'll gather, and I haven't yet told you about the tee shot with heavy rough on the right and the quarry on the left.

Brora golf course is a fine test of your golfswing. It's also a test of your resilience, stamina and concentration. Paradoxically its also the fairest golf course I ever played. Uniquely the better your golfswing the harder the course gets. That's unusual but entirely proper. At Brora everybody, locals and holiday makers alike can enjoy their golf game regardless of age, gender, althleticism or ability. The picture shows Brian Anderson the Club Professional outside his shop. Brian will be pleased to explain why Brora is so special a place for your golf holiday in the Scottish Highlands. Watch the short video slide show and you'll see a selection of sights from the course. They show the stunning scenery on view, including rainbows. (Brora gets more rainbows than anywhere I've ever been.) The course is built on a narrow strip of sandy soil - like all the best courses - between the farming land and the sea. It goes out for 9 holes and then back for another 9. The turning point is the simply stunning par 3 Sea Hole . It looks gorgeous but turns into a frightening challenge with the wind from the left and the sea on the right. Always the backdrop is the North Sea on one side and the heather and fern covered hills on the other. Watch out for the dummy Owl beside one of the greens. Apparently he's there to frighten away the sea gulls (we should get one for our garden I'm sure). Notice the electric fences around the putting greens - there to keep the animals off the prepared surfaces. And look for the cows quietly grazing by the burn at the short par 3. Elsewhere on the course is a flock of sheep:-) The course is built on Common Good Land. Local people have the right to graze their animals on it and despite numerous attempts by the golf club, refuse to stop doing it. To those of us brought up on manufactured and manicured golf courses with cart paths and half way houses Brora seems to be another world. With land the way God laid it out, the wind, the sea, the animals and inevitable cow pats and sheep droppings, this is the antithesis of what we know. But it's the way golf was born. A game of the people played on land useless for anything else where both money and score are meaningless. What counts is the way you play the game - the spirit of friends hitting a little white ball, finding it and then hitting it again in the home of golf you didn't know about.

Dornoch for bird watching holidays works just as well as Dornoch for golf holidays, and they both work because of the unique nature of our Common Good Lands. The unique environment and natural history which the Lower Links provides attracts both scientists and nature lovers alike. Bird watchers choose Dornoch for their holidays because here in the Scottish Highlands they can combine so many attractions and interests - beach, town, history, natural history, golf, whisky, and bird watching. There are birds everywhere, and some of them less welcome than others. The seagulls are especially troublesome - noisy, dirty, and even aggressive during the nesting season. On the other hand everybody loves the Oyster Catchers. The story board shown in the picture sits in the airfield car park. It sets the scene for visitors explaining what they might see, and asking them to help protect the unique habitat for rare birds and plants. Common Good Lands are those set aside by local authorities for the benefit of ordinary people. This is where they'd graze their animals, for free. It's also where they used to have fun and where golf started. In Scotland the Common Good Lands are usually links land - the expanse of sandy soil susceptible to flooding at high tide and not much use for growing stuff. That's why wealthy landowners gave it to the poor people. It was no use for anything they wanted to do. That's probably why the birds come and stay, and will keep doing it as long as we look after the environment for them. Bird watching is fine, but building and traffic isn't. Here's the text shown on the story board.

Common Good Land for the Birds

Saltmarsh The land enclosed by the san dune of Dornoch Point is very wet ground known as saltmarsh. It is made up of a carpet of specialised plants such as Sea Spurrey, Sea Aster and Sea Centaury which are able to survive being regularly flooded by salt water. In summer Redshanks, Lapwings and Oystercatchers nest here and winter, flocks of wading birds which feed on the mudflats gather together to roost on the saltmarsh as the tide comes in. Shelduck, Widgeon, Curlew and Dunlin can all commonly be seen either on the mud or the saltmarsh. The scattered whin bushes around the dry edges also make homes for resident birds such as Stonechars. The sand dunes saltmarshes and mudflats of Dornoch Point are considered to be amongst the most important examples in Britain. They are all very fragile habitats and are easily damaged. To protect the area and the rare plants which occur here vehicles are not permitted beyond the barriers. Do enjoy walking amongst the dunes and looking at the scenery, plants and animals but please try not to disturb the birdlife.

The Northern Counties Cup, one of golf's oldest and most prestigious club competitions returned to Royal Dornoch Golf Club this weekend. The competition is unique for several reasons - locations, format and history. The full story was explained to me by Denis Bethune - President of Royal Dornoch Golf Club, shown here in the clubhouse overlooking the first tee and fairway. The Northern Counties Cup competition was founded in 1900 by 6 golf clubs - Royal Aberdeen, Peterhead, Moray, Nairn, Tain and Royal Dornoch. It's open to teams from clubs in the Northern Counties in the Scottish Highlands (not surpisingly) and is played every September at one of those founding clubs, selected by rota. Royal Dornoch didn't enter a team for the first two years, and then proceeded to win it in each of the next ten. In recognition of the achievement RDGC was awarded a replica of the cup, which now sits in the trophy cabinet and is shown the photograph in our sidebar.  Good job.  Otherwise we wouldn't see it too often. The last year Royal Dornoch won the competition was 1988. The format is absolutely unique.

• It's a competition between clubs, not players.
• It's based on scratch scores (no handicaps).
• It's knockout, starting Thursday morning and finishing Saturday afternoon (winners play six rounds).
• It's matchplay between two teams of four players.
• It's foursomes (alternate shot like the Ryder Cup)
• Each round in the competition is decided by the aggregate holes up for the two foursomes matches.

That's why it's unique of course :-) The competition is also famous for the good time had by all. It's usual for the teams to socialise in the club house after the matches and the parties are particularly lively when good friends get together year after year for the annual event. Denis illustrated the fun side of the competition with a story from back before the last war, one year when the competition was played at RDGC. Apparently the Dornoch team spent the evening enjoying the local tipple in the company of their opponents for the next morning. The celebrations went on until late, and nobody was feeling much pain by the time they called it a night. The next morning the two teams met on the tee, except one of the Dornoch team members didn't show up. His partner was relieved and amused to see the missing golfer appear out of a bunker on the first fairway and wave to his mate to play the first shot. He'd fallen into the bunker on his way home the previous night and decided to stay there, not wanting to miss the start in the morning. In this year's semi finals Nairn defeated Inverness at the 19th hole while Newmachar had a comfortable +5 win over Moray. Newmachar continued the good form and took the final from Nairn at +4.

Old Pulteney is a Highland single malt whisky, and its also my choice for tonight's dram. Every evening before dinner I'll enjoy a glass on single malt whisky during my cocktail hour. That's 7.00 till 8.00 in this part of the world. To my mind there's no such thing as a poor single malt whisky, and I'm partial to a dram from the islands - Islay, Jura and Skye. But the best single malts come from the Scottish Highlands - Highland Malts - in my humble opinion, of course. That's where we live, after all. My favourite Highland Malts are Dalmore, Glen Morangie, Clynelish and Old Pulteney. They are all distilled and matured within sight of the North Sea. They all have a rich chewy texture and a bite, leaving a glow with every sip. Old Pulteney has a special story. It's the most northerly distillery on the mainland, at Wick. In some ways the dram is softer than Clynelish, thinner than Dalmore and more robust than Glen Morangie, and there's a faint sea air dimension, We can taste the salt in the air. I'll claim no expertise in the subject of malt whisky. Like the ill informed art critic, I simply know what sits well with me. Old Pulteney is certainly one that does. All whisky lovers should give it a try. Compare it with Talisker and Jura and Bowmore and Laphroaig. They're also my favourites, but Old Pulteney stands comfortable in that company. The packaging tells us Old Pulteney is the Genuine Maritime Malt, because when the distillery started all of the ingredients came in by sea, and the product went out the same way. It also tells us Old Pulteney is one of the most unique Scottish distilleries. The wash has no swan neck, apparently the original still was too tall for the building so the still manager cut it off. The spirit resembles a smuggler's kettle. Both undoubtedly contribute to the distinctive character of the whisky. Throughout the years of maturation the casks have taken the time to absorb the Northern Scottish sea breeze. That's why the Old Pulteney is often referred to as the Manzanilla of the North.

One Scottish Highlands attraction most people won't know about is performing arts.  We have plenty to entertain us, and it's not all bagpipes, drums and kilts.  The Highlands has drama. It also has Jazz. Real Jazz.  New York style Jazz For years now the Nairn Jazz Festival has attracted popular musicians from Europe and the USA and an audience from all over the UK.  Our first experience of the Highlands Jazz scene was back in 1998 when Junior Manse was the headline act at the Nairn Festival.  A couple of years later we got really lucky when Jane Monheit played the Nairn Jazz Festival, almost as part of launching her career.  She came back a couple of years later, by which time she'd become the star she is now, to play to a much bigger audience. Jane is a fabulous entertainer with a classically trained voice.  She is also absolutely gorgeous! Nairn isn't strictly in the Highlands, according to my rules at least, and Rod Stewart isn't strictly Jazz either.  But he did make those American Song Book albums, so we'll include him.  Rod played the Caledonian Stadium, Inverness in July this year, and set the whole area alight. Mostly thanks to the organisers of the Nairn festival, we get regular Jazz concerts at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness.  Earlier this year we went to a Claire Teale concert.  A small, extremely knowledgeable, audience enjoyed an exceptional evening with the star's interpretation of the great British Songbook.  It was just like being in a small jazz club. This weekend Tommy Smith and Brian Kellock will lead the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in an interpretation of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.  In the second half of the show they'll play a set with tributes to Buddy Rich. Susan Welsh, for the Press and Journal, wrote Jazzing Up A Classic with a description of the upcoming concert and snippets of a conversation with Tommy Smith, Scotland's best known saxophonist. We have to go to the concert.  Maybe Tommy will inspire me to blow one of my three saxophones again. Performing arts in the Highlands gets another leap forward next year when the excellent Perth Theatre will perform Arthur Miller's epic Death of a Salesman.  The last time we got to watch an Arthur Miller play was in Chicago, so this will be an extra special treat.