"OUR region is almost embarrassingly picturesque,” beams Emma Bouglet, of East Lothian Food and Drink.
“We’ve got the Forth, the North Sea, our beaches and our hills. And some of the best fresh produce in Scotland.”
I’m just back from another couple of glorious couple of days in East Lothian and I agree with Emma on all that.
I’d swirl in a swathe of rugged castles, the John Muir Way long-distance walk right to the house where he was born, and a collage of lovely towns and villages, plus the fact East Lothian is one of the sunniest and driest places in Scotland too.
All this and North Berwick is just half an hour by train from Edinburgh.
North Berwick is my usual base with very good reason.
It’s got my favourite East Lothian hotel in the Marine North Berwick. This old dame began life as a hydropathic institute back in the 19th century, when stressed-out Londoners would catch the train north to take the local waters.
It has just been given a massive – and massively impressive – revamp by Marine & Lawn. The public spaces have been transformed and walking into the lobby feels like strolling onto a cruise ship, with the sweeping windows opening up the Firth of Forth and its isles.
The Marine Hotel’s manager Gillian Mylles explains. “East Lothian is naturally relaxing and we just add to that. The hotel today has kept all the things about the old Marine everyone loved and brought it all back to its best.”
I’m relieved they’ve kept the outdoor hot pool with its bubbles and jet fountain. It’s a sublime experience bubbling away in here as the golfers bash around the links just in front of the hotel, one of North Berwick’s brace of fine golf courses.
I always try to do two things in North Berwick. The first is enjoy the sweet local lobster, which I ticked off at the upgraded Rocketeer down by the harbour. I recommend a treat, the seafood platter, which comes with half a lobster, chips, fish cake, squid and a portion of battered fish – at £35 a better deal than the whole lobster at nearer £50.
My second North Berwick must-do is a boat trip. I headed out with the Scottish Seabird Centre guys, whose fast RIB swishes out to the puffins of Lamb (an isle owned by Uri Geller), bird-kissed Craigleith and finally to the star attraction of Bass Rock, the world’s largest gannetry. Fingers crossed they have an easier time this summer and aren’t ravaged by avian flu again. Initial signs this year are positive.
Bass Rock is utterly unique. In a “normal” year, 75,000 pairs of nesting gannets gather together here on the cliffs to lay and then hatch their eggs. It’s like a giant avian soap opera, watching them squabble over whose turn it is to swoop out in search of food, “kiss” when their partners return from their arduous forays and then seeing the wee chicks blink into the world.
Sir David Attenborough hailed Bass Rock one of the “12 wildlife wonders of the world” and it’s hard to argue.
Pushing beyond North Berwick, I recommend hiking west using a combination of the wonderful local beaches and sections of the waymarked coast-to-coast John Muir Way.
Eventually you’ll come to Gullane after wild swathes of Forth shore. Here more great golf and Tom Kitchin’s Bonnie Badger tempts with the likes of East Lothian roe deer.
Head south on the John Muir Way instead and visit the Dunbar house where the great conservationist – the founder of the US National Park system – was born; now an excellent museum.
There are great beaches around here and for families, Foxlake adventure park is adding a new “aqua park” next month.
Inland you’ll also find the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune. I cannot recommend this enough and not just because I’m addicted to travel and get a real buzz visiting here.
It used to be a working RAF base and saw action in World War Two, a period it dives deep into. There are plenty of commercial planes of all shapes and sizes.
The highlight, of course, is Concorde. Arguably the world’s most famous passenger jet is a sleek, graceful thing of utter beauty. The cabin is remarkably small, but you still get a feel for the level of luxury and excitement aboard those remarkable supersonic flights.
My latest trip ends back up atop North Berwick Law, one of my favourite short hill climbs in Scotland. From this 187m-high perch, East Lothian unfurls in all its glory – islands blink back from the beach-fringed Forth, the cobalt North Sea beckons to the east, and the low-slung hills break off south towards the border.
Below me awaits that sweet lobster, the welcoming arms of the Marine North Berwick and a region alive with swathes of things to see and do.
