Welcome to the inaugural edition of my Wee Scottish List - a small, carefully picked collection of things worth knowing about Scotland this week.

Don't expect any big news, nor heavy or political stuff. Here, I'm more about the interesting tidbits, odd traditions, nostalgic finds and uniquely Scottish places or phrases you'll want to bookmark and remember. 

Five things, once a week. Something to read with a coffee.

Here’s this week’s List.

Scottish Thing of the Week

Why Are Weans in Lanark Swinging Paper Balls Around Their Heads?

Every spring, the town of Lanark gathers for one of the most gloriously odd traditions in Scotland: Whuppity Scoorie.

At six o’clock sharp, children run round St Nicholas Kirk swinging paper balls above their heads while the church bells ring out across the town. The official explanation is that it chases winter away. Fair, given we had snow in May this week.

Nobody seems entirely certain where the tradition came from. Some say pagan ritual, some say local fairground history, other just say, “we’ve aye done it”.

And isn't that just part of the charm. It’s exactly the kind of small, slightly bonkers community tradition Scotland still does brilliantly. Just generations of people turning up because their parents and grandparents did it before them.

Also, “Whuppity Scoorie” may be one of the best phrases ever produced by the Scottish language, I'm sure you'll agree!

Trip Down Memory Lane

The Scottish Packaging Designs We’ll Never Stop Loving

You could show most Scottish people a Tunnock’s wrapper from twenty feet away and they’d still recognise it instantly. Same with old Irn-Bru cans, Creamola Foam, Highland Toffee bars and Edinburgh Rock!

Scottish food packaging design has always had a gloriously unhinged look to it. Bold lettering,  completely chaotic colour choices and lurid tartan appearing where tartan has absolutely no business to be.

The net effect being that we we remember the wrappers more than we remember the food! 

A lot of modern branding tries very hard to feel authentic and nostalgic and “heritage inspired”. Meanwhile, vintage Scottish packaging just got on with the job while accidentally becoming part of everybody’s childhood visual memory.

There’s probably an entire Scottish design history book to be written purely about Scottish shortbread tins. Maybe one day!

Place to Put on Your List

The New Highland Hotel That's Peak Cosy Scotland

I haven’t actually been to the Fortingall Hotel yet, which perhaps makes the amount of time I’ve spent looking at photos of it slightly concerning.

But it has gone straight onto my Scotland list.

Tucked away in Highland Perthshire beside one of the prettiest villages in Scotland, it feels less like a “luxury destination” and more like somebody with extremely good taste quietly inherited a country house and decided to let the rest of us stay in it.

There are deep armchairs you immediately want to disappear into. Arts and Crafts vibes. Wood panelling. Soft lighting. Proper fires. The sort of muted colours that make rainy weather feel like part of the decor rather than a problem.

Even the dining room manages to avoid that overly formal hotel feeling where everybody whispers slightly too much while pretending to understand the wine list.

And perhaps that’s why the place works so well, at least from afar. It looks comfortable first and impressive second.

A lot of modern hotels are designed mainly to look good on Instagram. This one looks designed for sitting in during terrible weather with a drink, a book and absolutely nowhere else to be.

Which, in Scotland, is arguably the highest compliment possible.

https://www.fortingall.com/

Made In Scotland

The Strange Scottish Stories We Nearly Lost

There’s something comforting about discovering that Scotland still takes storytelling seriously.

Not in a grand literary festival sort of way. More in the old-fashioned sense of strange local tales, daft community legends and stories that get funnier every time they’re retold.

Projects like Scotland’s Map of Stories are quietly collecting these fragments before they disappear completely. Ghost stories. Humorous local myths. Tiny bits of oral history that would otherwise vanish the minute somebody’s granda stops telling them.

And the thing about Scottish storytelling is that it rarely stays polished for long.

Even serious stories eventually pick up a funny detail. Or a neighbour’s opinion. Or somebody insisting their uncle knew the man involved and “that’s no how it happened at all”.

Which is probably why Scottish storytelling survives so well. It belongs to ordinary people more than institutions.

There’s also a lovely reminder in all this that not every important bit of culture sits in a museum somewhere. Sometimes it survives because people keep repeating it over cups of tea.

 

Map of Stories
https://mapofstories.scot/category/humorous/

Scottish Storytelling Forum
https://www.storytellingforum.co.uk/news-features/

Wee Find / Thing We Love 

Timorous Beasties Winning Scotland’s Most Stylish Internet Award

The iconic Glasgow design studio won “Superinfluencer” at the Scottish Influencer Awards last week. Slightly daft category name aside, it’s a useful reminder of how influential Scottish surface pattern and interiors design, and Timorous Beasties in particular, has become globally.

Haters will say I’m biased, given I did work experience with the Beasties between college and art school. Fair. But there’s no one more deserving than Paul and Ally. My claim to fame is helping to draw part of a bush in their iconic 'Glasgow Toile' design!

Their work has that very Scottish mix of tradition and mischief - intricate, slightly off-kilter patterns built on classic motifs, but never played straight. And now it’s being recognised not just as design, but as cultural influence, which feels right.

Also worth noting: it’s instantly recognisable. In a world of increasingly samey “tasteful” interiors, that’s no small thing. If you’ve ever spotted one of their wallpapers in the wild, you’ll know - you don’t half-remember it.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/39027787/scotland-influencers-of-the-year-2026-winners/