Taylor's Croft

08/24/2026

🧢 For nearly three hundred years you could tell a Scotsman from a mile off by what was on his head.

The blue bonnet was not a costume. It was simply what men wore, from the 1500s through to the 1800s, from the Borders to the Northern Isles. A flat, round, brimless cap, knitted in one piece from coarse wool, then heavily felted and shrunk in water until it turned almost weatherproof, and dyed with woad to that deep smoky blue. It shed rain, it held its shape, it cost little and it lasted years.

Kilmarnock in Ayrshire built an entire industry on them. By the 1700s the town was turning out bonnets by the tens of thousands, and the Kilmarnock bonnet became a name people knew far beyond Scotland. But most were still made at home, knitted by women at the fireside on long wooden needles, and every single one came out slightly different from the last.

It became a badge without anybody ever deciding it should be one. English writers describing Scottish armies did not bother with detail, they simply called them the blue bonnets. Walter Scott put the phrase into a song and it never left. To pull a bonnet down over the brow was to be ready for trouble, and to pin a coloured cockade or a sprig of plant badge into it was to declare exactly which side you were on and which name you carried.

And it never entirely went away. Flatten it, add a toorie and a diced band and you have the Balmoral and the Tam o' Shanter still worn today. The same shape your ancestors pulled on to go out into the rain.

There is something honest about it. No crest, no gold, no rank in it anywhere. Just good wool, made at home, worn by ploughmen and lairds alike. 🌾

The most Scottish thing anybody ever wore was a plain blue hat.

08/07/2026

Who’s ancestors did this?

On their last night in Glasgow, this family owned almost nothing they could take with them. 🚢

Between the 18th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Scots left for Canada, the United States, Australia, and beyond, often carrying little more than a single trunk and whatever skills they could put to use in a new country. For many working class families crammed into Glasgow's tenements, the decision to emigrate wasn't really a choice between staying and leaving comfortably, it was a choice between an uncertain future abroad and a nearly guaranteed hard one at home.

The night before departure carried its own particular weight. Furniture got sold or given away, photographs got tucked carefully into coat pockets, and children were told, gently or not so gently, that the life they'd known was ending. Ships bound for Nova Scotia and other ports became floating villages of Scots who would go on to build entire communities that still carry Scottish names, songs, and traditions today.

That inheritance runs deep. Millions of people around the world can trace a direct line back to a night exactly like this one.

07/29/2026

This is a good read to help you understand, and it still applies today in Scotland

🎉 In Scotland, the New Year was never a small thing. For centuries it mattered more than Christmas itself, and the way the Scots welcomed it is unlike anywhere on earth.

Hogmanay, the Scottish celebration of the last night of the year, has deep and ancient roots. For long stretches of history, after the Reformation frowned on Christmas, it was Hogmanay that carried the great midwinter feasting, the fire and the fellowship. And at its heart lies one of the most beloved customs in all of Scottish life, the tradition of first footing.

The idea is simple and lovely. The first person to cross your threshold after the stroke of midnight sets the luck of your house for the whole year to come. The most fortunate first foot of all is a tall, dark haired man, a memory, some say, of the fear of fair haired Norse raiders long ago. He must not come empty handed. He carries gifts rich with meaning, a lump of coal for warmth, so the fire never goes out, shortbread or a black bun for food, so no one goes hungry, and a wee dram of whisky for good cheer. In return he is welcomed in, toasted, and fed, and on he goes to the next house, and the next, all through the small cold hours of the morning.

Before all this, the house would be cleaned from top to bottom, the ashes cleared, old debts settled, so the new year began fresh and unburdened. Then doors were flung open, strangers became friends, and whole communities moved from house to house sharing food and song until dawn.

It is a tradition built on the truest Scottish values, hospitality, generosity, the warmth of the welcome given to whoever knocks at the door in the dark. It says that we face the unknown year best when we face it together.

Wherever the Scots went in the world, they carried Hogmanay with them. The coal, the whisky, the song at midnight. A small stubborn light against the longest night.

Clean the house. Open the door. Let the luck walk in. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

07/01/2026

Enjoy

In Scotland, Coca-Cola does not win.

Scotland is the only country in the world where Coca-Cola is not the best-selling soft drink. Irn-Bru [IRN-BROO] holds that title. And Scots are extremely smug about it.

The recipe is a closely guarded secret. It contains thirty-two flavors. Only two people in the world know the full formula, and the recipe is kept in a bank vault. The company — AG Barr, founded in Glasgow — has never revealed it and shows no signs of doing so.

It tastes like nothing else on earth. Attempts to describe it include: fizzy cream soda, bubblegum, liquid orange, and "just Irn-Bru, there's nothing else to compare it to."

It is also, by widespread Scottish consensus, the only known cure for a hangover.
When the EU threatened to ban certain food colorings in Irn-Bru in the early 2000s, the Scottish public reacted as though a national monument was under threat. The company reformulated rather than change the color.

Scotland has its priorities.

Irn-Bru has been made in Scotland since 1901. It has outlasted empires.
It will outlast us all.

Have you tried Irn-Bru? 👇

05/12/2026

Family roots for lots of you

Over 70,000 Scots were forced from their homes during the Highland Clearances. But the moment that broke them wasn't the eviction. It was the shore. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Standing at the water's edge, watching Scotland disappear behind them, families who had farmed the same land for generations boarded ships bound for Canada, Australia, and the United States. They carried almost nothing: a bundle of clothes, a family Bible, and a name. A Scottish name that would survive on foreign soil for centuries.

Many of them never saw the Highlands again. But they passed the stories down. The clan names, the Gaelic words, the pride. And that is why, right now, millions of people across the world still feel a pull toward a place they may have never even visited.

If your family came from Scotland, this image is your family's story. Share it with someone who carries that bloodline. 💙⚔️

04/09/2026

Interesting read

For nearly two centuries, a father could not give his own surname to his child. A gravestone could not bear the family name.

04/03/2026

03/12/2026

We have our shipment of Irish Bangers, British Crumpets, Scottish Smoked Haddock, British Fruit Scones has arrived!
Now available

03/10/2026

Are you ready for St Patrick’s Day?

I have some items available
To help you celebrate the day!
Irish Bangers will be available Thursday afternoon

03/10/2026

Fully stocked on British foods, Scottish, & Irish.
Come and visit and pick up your favorite items, goodies, snacks...
Irish Bangers, British Crumpets, &Scottish Smoked Haddock will be in Thursday afternoon for all the people who have been waiting.
Look forward to seeing you all again at the new location.
Inside 10th mountain tactical located on 25rd, next door to grand valley Bank.
park at the red painted billiards.