Scotland from the inside

On the course we go in depth into the Scots' fascinating culture and beautiful nature. We are based in the charming town of Peebles south of Edinburgh, and stay in a former manor house that belonged to the Ballantyne family, one of the town's leading textile manufacturers.

During the week we take several excursions to the Scots' cultural capital Edinburgh, where among other things we visit the Scottish Parliament. Here we meet Member of Parliament Alasdair Allan who will tell us about the Scots' self-government. We also visit a successful Danish company, and there is time too to visit the fascinating galleries, museums and shopping streets.

On the course there are several talks about the Scots and their society, culture, clans and fascinating history, and we sing a whole lot of folk high school songs.

We go on a hike, enjoy a whisky tasting and learn to dance Scottish folk dance to live music. In the local area we visit a wool weaving mill, where the famous tartans come into being on enormous jacquard looms, and we get the chance to buy lovely woollen goods directly from the factory. A highlight of the week is a day at the Scottish Highland Games in Peebles. Throughout the day, strong kilt-clad men compete in feats of strength and throw everything from cabers to haggis, while nimble dance troupes in brightly coloured tartan skirts compete for the prize for best expression to Scottish folk music. There are bagpipe displays, food stalls and plenty of fun competitions all day, and the Scots come from near and far to take part. Scotland is not least known for its beautiful nature, and we are surrounded by it at the folk high school.

During the week we walk both short trips in the area around Peebles, and a single long trip in The Southern Uplands, the hilly area that surrounds Peebles. During the course we have free access to Peebles Hydro Hotel's spa department, a 10-minute walk from the folk high school. There is both a steam bath, sauna, training facilities and a swimming pool - so remember your swimwear!

The course leader on the line is Camilla Kornerup, who is Danish and lives in Scotland where she has led Annas Højskole's courses in Scotland's Lowlands and Highlands for a number of years, among others together with Sisse Skovbakke.

Day 1: Sunday 30/8: Arrival in Peebles

13.35 Departure from Copenhagen Airport to Edinburgh 14.30 Arrival local time at Edinburgh Airport. We drive directly to the folk high school in Peebles, about 45 minutes from the airport. Check-in to rooms

17.00 We meet for cake with coffee+tea and a welcome to the course by course leader Camilla Kornerup

19.00 Dinner at the folk high school + "who is who"

Day 2: Monday 31/8: Intro to Scotland and Peebles

8.00 Morning exercises in the folk high school's garden

9.00 Breakfast

10.00 Morning song + intro to our folk high school - The Park Hotel, which was originally built as a stately home for the Ballantyne family, one of the town's great textile manufacturers. The whole area around Peebles was a major centre for Scottish wool production in the 1800s and 1900s, which the building clearly bears the mark of.

11.00 Talk: "Around Scotland" by Camilla

13.00 Lunch at the folk high school

14.00 Walk in and around Peebles, which has a fascinating history. We also come down to the river Tweed, which runs through the town. After the walk there are a couple of hours' free time in the afternoon in the folk high school's lovely garden, the spa area at The Hydro or in Peebles, where there are many places to discover

18.30 Dinner at the folk high school

20.00 Evening talk: "A closet Scot comes out" - About a great leap in life in the middle of a pandemic - with Brexit on top, by Sisse

Day 3: Tuesday 1/9: Clans, textile factory and whisky tasting

8.00 Morning exercises in the folk high school's garden

9.00 Breakfast

10.00 Morning song with Sisse

10.30 Talk "Clans, kilts and tartan, about grown men in patterned woollen skirts", by Camilla. We will hear about the old clans, and men in kilts, and their countless clashes with the English, which to this day fills the whole of the Scots' consciousness Break

12.30 Info about tomorrow's hike by Camilla

13.00 Lunch at the folk high school. After this a break with room to enjoy the garden, the town or perhaps the spa area at The Hydro Hotel

15.30 Departure by bus - visit to the textile factory Calzeat in Symington (a 45-minute drive from the folk high school) with a tour and story by owner Robin Galbraith. At the factory we see how weavers make furnishing textiles on enormous jacquard looms in traditional tartan. Calzeat also has a production of colourful and soft scarves, ponchos and jackets and so on in the finest wool and cashmere. After the tour Robin will tell us his family's story. The visit to Calzeat ends in the shop, where there is the chance to swing the credit card.

Around 17.45 Bus home from Calzeat

19.00 Dinner at the folk high school

20.15 Whisky tasting at the folk high school with John Lees. We taste four of Scotland's finer single malt whiskies, from both the Highlands and the Lowlands. Meanwhile we are well entertained by John's stories about whisky and its special place in the Scots' hearts, not to mention its significance in the endless conflicts between England and Scotland through the ages. John speaks easily understood English

Day 4: Wednesday 2/9: Full-day hike in The Southern Uplands

8.00 Morning exercises in the folk high school's garden

9.00 Breakfast

10.00 Morning song with Sisse

10.15 We take a packed lunch and set off from the folk high school on a full-day hike in the area around Glen Sax in The Southern Uplands. We decide on the route depending on wind and weather as the time draws near. The area is a beautiful piece of wild nature, with grass- and heather-clad hills and valleys with sheep and open moorland. Here we walk along footpaths on gravel, grass and tarmac. We walk up and down the hills and take breaks and eat packed lunches in the greenery along the way. The hike ends in Peebles, where we find a pub where there is the chance to buy a refreshment after the trip, before we walk through the town home to the folk high school

18.30 Dinner at the folk high school Camilla gives tips on what is good to experience in Edinburgh, when we visit the city, and you are on your own

20.00 Song evening with Danish and Scottish songs with Sisse

The hike requires good walking shoes/boots. The route goes up and down the hills and requires you to be in good physical shape and able to walk a whole day in hilly terrain. We expect to walk between 14 - 17 km and eat packed lunches along the way, and take snack breaks throughout. If the weather is very poor, we take a shorter trip in the area

Day 5: Thursday 3/9: Edinburgh, visit to the Scottish Parliament

7.30 Breakfast

8.30 Morning song with Sisse

9.00 We drive to Edinburgh and first visit the Scottish Parliament, where we get a tour and a talk with Member of Parliament Alasdair Allan, who will tell about Scottish self-government.

Later, if possible, we go with Alasdair into the parliamentary chamber, otherwise into a meeting room, where there will be the chance to ask Alasdair questions. Alasdair speaks Norwegian The rest of the day is free to eat lunch on your own and explore the city more

16.30 Departure by bus back to the folk high school Free evening - dinner on your own in Peebles.

For those who fancy staying in Edinburgh, you can, and then you just take the public bus home. We give a few tips on places to eat.

Day 6: Friday, 4/9: Company visit and free time in Edinburgh

7.30 Breakfast

8.30 Morning song with Sisse

9.00 We drive to Edinburgh and visit the Danish company Nordic Living It is the owners Sofie and / or Mogens Kleberg-Biel who receive us and tell about the company and the Kleberg-Biel family. The family moved to Scotland in 2018 and opened Nordic Living in one of Edinburgh's most charming neighbourhoods in Bruntsfield. Here they sell Danish design furniture by, among others, Finn Juhl and Arne Jacobsen as well as other Danish classics, and we will hear about their entrepreneurial adventure and the Scots' interest in Scandinavian design.

After the visit to Nordic Living the rest of the day is on your own in Edinburgh. It is two kilometres down to the centre around Princes Street with museums, art galleries, parks, shopping streets and so on. The course leaders walk down to the centre through the city's parks, and you can choose to walk along, take a bus down there or continue around Bruntsfield, where there are charming shops and cafés.

Lunch is on your own today

16.00 The bus drives back to the folk high school from a central spot in the city

18.30 Info about Peebles Highland Games tomorrow by Camilla

19.00 Dinner at the folk high school

20:00 A cosy evening at the folk high school, where there is the chance to relax, chat with the other participants and perhaps try a new whisky in the bar

Day 7: Saturday 5/9: Peebles Highland Games, closing party with folk dance

8.00 Morning exercises in the folk high school's garden

9.00 Breakfast

10.00 Morning song with Sisse

10.30 We walk five minutes to the centre of Peebles where the town band with bagpipes, drums and fifes opens the day's Highland Games. The band marches through the town down to the park where it all takes place.

In the morning the games and competitions begin, and during the day there will be haggis hurling (throwing haggis), Highland folk dance competitions, bagpipe competitions and various feats of strength such as the caber toss, throwing a 5-metre-long pole! All sorts of things get thrown today, and it is anything but quiet. The strongest men and most skilful dancers and musicians are crowned during the day. We spend the day in the park, are well entertained and get a unique insight into Scottish culture at close hand.

There are stalls with food and drink on the ground to satisfy the palate during the day, where lunch is on your own. When you have had your fill of the experiences, you can walk back to the folk high school or the town

19.00 Closing dinner at the folk high school

20.30 Closing party with a rip-roaring ceilidh, which is Scottish folk dance to live music. The music is provided by the ever-lively The Clydesdale Ceilidh Band, who open the party by teaching us folk dance and continue to entertain us to the joyful rhythms of both mandolin and accordion

Day 8: Sunday 6/9: Departure to Denmark

8.30 We begin the day with a gentle walk

9.00 Breakfast and check out

10.15 Morning song with Sisse

11.30 Farewell to the folk high school and departure to Edinburgh Airport

15.10 Flight to Copenhagen

17.55 Arrival local time at Copenhagen Airport

*Subject to changes

Our folk high school lies on the edge of the town of Peebles in the area The Scottish Borders, south of Edinburgh. The area is hilly and mountainous and part of The Southern Uplands. There is farmland and forest here, and at times a long way between the villages. Sheep farms follow one after another, and the rivers River Clyde and River Tweed wind through the landscape. The nature is green, beautiful and lush. On the hills heather and grass grow in competition, to the delight of grouse and red deer, while golden eagles, buzzards and kestrels soar over the valleys with their gaze fixed firmly on rodents and fledglings.

On the course we stay in a former manor house that belonged to the Ballantyne family, one of Peebles' largest textile manufacturers, who had several factories and weaving mills in the area. The house is now a newly renovated hotel with bright rooms on several floors. The hotel also has a café, bar, a lovely garden with lawn and flowers as well as cosy nooks inside and out. The hotel lies centrally at the end of the main street and forms the setting for the many shared activities we have during the week such as morning exercises, folk high school singing, meals and talks.

Peebles is a charming town with shops, cafés and a couple of pubs. The town has about 10,000 inhabitants, and lies down by the River Tweed, less than an hour's drive from Edinburgh. Peebles has a long, rich history as a royal burgh, and it was here that southern Scotland's extensive textile production was founded. Countless wool spinneries, wool weaving mills and textile factories made the area rich in the 1800s and 1900s. At the same time Peebles became a spa town, which the upper class in the coal-polluted cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow retreated to. They took health stays at the town's spa hotel, The Hydro Hotel. The Hydro still exists, and during the course we have free access to their spa department, which has a steam bath, sauna, training facilities and a swimming pool - so remember your swimwear!

Camilla Kornerup:

Leader of the Scotland from the inside line. Camilla is a graduate (cand. mag.) and has travelled in large parts of the world and now lives in Edinburgh with her English husband John. Camilla runs the talks business Cosmopolit, where she tells stories and shows pictures from travels about people's lives and living conditions around the globe. Alongside this she is a tour leader on hikes in Scotland and has a background in the travel industry as a guide, and as a teacher. In recent years she has also worked with HR and skills development and as a self-employed consultant in sustainability. In her free time Camilla enjoys getting to know Scotland and the Scots better, and she hikes and cycles and takes pictures and looks forward to exploring the more remote and windswept regions such as the Shetland Islands and the Hebrides. Camilla will give several talks and lead trips out of the house during the week.

Sisse Skovbakke:

Sisse Skovbakke has a major in music from university and has had a lovely and varied working life. Sisse taught for 10 years in the music school system and 10 years at the teacher training college in Nørre Nissum, and after a couple of curious side-steps, among other things as a greenhouse gardener and institution kitchen assistant, she has now landed in the folk high school world, where she has plenty of elbow room and thrives. Alongside her 'real' career, Sisse has worked as a freelance choir leader and choir coach, and the vocal or singing side has been allowed to fill a great deal in more or less everything Sisse has turned her hand to. Even in the market garden.

Sisse has three grown sons, who are all well on their way with lives and families of their own, and that has given time and room for her own dreams. So after for many years living out her holidays as a closet Scot, Sisse decided at the end of 2020 to put the house up for sale and move to Scotland on a permanent basis. But Brexit got in the way, so now Sisse makes do with the closet and the holidays. And the music. And the plants. And the knitting. And...

John Lees:

Whisky connoisseur, leader of the fly-fishing line and experienced fly fisher. John is a historian, born in England and lives in Edinburgh, where he is a passionate whisky collector. John has tasted over 500 whiskies from all over the world and among the favourites are some of the rarer whiskies from remote small Scottish distilleries. At our whisky evening we taste 6 of Scotland's finer single malt whiskies, the real thing, from both the Highlands and the Lowlands. We will surely recognise flavour notes of peat, smoke, leather, oil and vanilla while we are well entertained by John's stories about whisky and its special place in the Scots' hearts, not to mention its significance in the endless conflicts between England and Scotland through the ages.