I don’t really keep up with Hollywood, in fact I wouldn’t even recognise the so-called household names who are involved in the film industry nowadays. I still think of Meryl Streep as a bit of a newcomer. So it was only when I watched the Scottish evening news earlier that I learned about this new Disney animation movie called Brave, set in Scotland apparently.

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister is jumping on the bandwagon and is over in Hollywood whilest the film is being promoted and is going to be attending Brave’s premier. I suppose if you think that there’s no such thing as bad publicity then you might as well go with it. Apparently they think the film will be great for Scottish tourism. It might turn out to be quite an entertaining watch but if we’re relying on Disney to get tourists to Scotland I can’t help thinking we’re in a really bad way.

Come to Scotland for the scenery, history, geology, archaeology, food (yes) the whisky (if you’re that way inclined), hill-walking, climbing, white water rafting, the Edinburgh Festival (if you must), great museums and art galleries, lochs and castles galore, stately homes and palaces and purer air. Maybe even come for the people, well some of them!

If you want someone else’s opinion on Scotland have a read at Deborah Orr’s article which appeared in Friday’s Guardian. You can read it here where there are links to lovely scenery.

The thing that I love most about summer in Scotland is the light. At the moment it’s 10 o’clock at night and it’s not far off broad daylight outside. I was gardening until just half an hour ago and I still could easily as there are no problems with seeing what I’m doing. It’s a big contrast to living in the south of England where you don’t get the benefit of the light nights. Honestly, you haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the gloaming in some rural setting, you could almost believe in fairies!

Have a look at the lovely Scotland in the Gloaming site. I have to thank Peggy Ann for pointing me in its direction – via the US.