New attractions in Scotland for 2007

Scotland is the place to visit in 2007 with a host of new attractions for tourists including new exhibitions at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, a refurbished Apex Hotel in Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Food & Drink Festival, as well as much much more! Here are some of the highlights for 2007. . .

Food Lover’s Heaven as Dine Around Launches in the East of Scotland
Diners in the East of Scotland will have the chance to sample the menus of some of the area’s best eateries at the great value fixed price of £15 as VisitScotland launches its hugely successful Dine Around offer in the area.

Following in the footsteps of previous Dine Around menu offers in Glasgow and Edinburgh, forty four restaurants in Angus & Dundee, Perthshire and the Kingdom of Fife will be offering the fixed price menus from Monday 19th February until Friday 30th March,

Learn to Cook at The Sisters
Learn to cook with chef-patron Jacqueline O’Donnell of the Sisters Restaurants in Glasgow. Jacqueline, who has cooked alongside Jean-Christophe Novelli, Antony Worrall Thompson and Lady Claire MacDonald, entertains her guests with a fun, light-hearted approach to cooking with audience participation, ideal for nervous cooks. She works with small groups to ensure an informal, fun experience and to offer the maximum opportunity to learn new techniques and ask questions. The three-hour master-classes teach how to cook with some of Scotland’s best produce including wild venison, shellfish, Borders lamb and wild fish, as well as very naughty but nice puddings and basic bread techniques. Jacqueline is also a patisserie chef and teaches sugar spinning alongside other creative culinary arts. Classes are available throughout April

Refurbishment of an old favourite
The Old Waverley Hotel, situated on Princes Street, in the heart of the city of Edinburgh embarked on a £3 million refurbishment this year to renovate and upgrade facilities at the hotel. The Hotel also unveiled the new Cranstons Restaurant after a major facelift to upgrade its interiors. The restaurant was established in 1848 when The Old Waverley Hotel first opened and Cranstons has been brought back to its former glory but with a contemporary twist.

Shotgun Wedding: The Scots and the Union
A new exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery features a multi-screen video installation by artists Tracy Mackenna and Edwin Janssen and a selection of works from the Gallery's permanent collection including paintings, medals and engravings. Part-historical and part-contemporary, Shotgun Wedding: The Scots and the Union will examine the motives and the consequences of the Treaty of Union which joined Scotland and England to create the United Kingdom.

Apex to open a fourth hotel in Edinburgh
The Edinburgh on Princes Street was the first large scale hotel in the city. Apex plans to return the property back to hotel trading by investing more than £30 million to achieve 180 "contemporary design-led" rooms, each offering the latest in business facilities and state-of-the-art entertainment systems.

VIP Valentine’s Day
Whisk your loved one away this Valentine’s to a remote and wildly seductive corner of Scotland. Set against a dramatic backdrop of craggy Highland peaks and Scottish lochs, the new luxury Boat Shed at Ardanaiseig offers the perfect waterside love nest for insatiable romantics. This is the Boat Shed’s first Valentine’s, and to mark the occasion, Ardanaiseig, which was voted Scotland’s Most Romantic Hotel 2006, is offering a VIP Valentine’s weekend, with no extravagance spared.

Guests will be flown in by seaplane to the Boat Shed, where they will dine on champagne and oysters, followed by indulgent days of feasting on freshly caught seafood and game, taking romantic strolls in the woods, breakfast in bed and a private butler service attending to every need as well as transport around the grounds in a self-drive golf buggy.

Ocean Mist Comes Back To Life As Cruz
The beautifully-raked 400-tonne vessel will emerge from a £1.1m refit as the Cruz bar and restaurant, a dramatic and futuristic concept venue brought to life by restaurant entrepreneur Matthew Tabatabaie and entrepreneur Sassan Pour. Cruz will cater for launch parties and private functions as well as providing a 90-seat restaurant and a contemporary and classy piano room nightclub. The lower part of the ship will house a superbly-equipped conference and function suite, in which the ship’s vintage steam engines have been incorporated as a design feature.

Gleneagles awarded best golf resort Worldwide
The Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire has been voted “Best Golf Resort” worldwide at the inaugural Luxury Travel Reader Awards 2007, designed to recognise and reward excellence in the travel industry. The resort is set in 850 acres of glorious Perthshire countryside, and boasts three championship golf courses including the PGA Centenary Course, home to the Ryder Cup 2014. World renowned for the huge array of activities and country pursuits on offer throughout the estate, guests may try their hand at clay target shooting, fishing, horse riding, falconry, off-road driving or choose to relax in The Spa.

New Edinburgh Food and Drink Festival
Taste of Edinburgh will feature 60-plus stands in a tented village from 7-10 June, giving locals and visitors alike the opportunity to experience the very best of quality, Scottish produce. Taste of Edinburgh, taking place at The Meadows, forms part of a strategy to promote Edinburgh as the culinary capital of Scotland.