My mother-in-law lived outside Edinburgh and she knew that ‘afternoon tea’ was a vital meal – many, in their own homes, would add a hot dish, say kippers, a Scottish speciality. Hotels, naturally, do it rather more elegantly. Queen of the scone brigade is undoubtedly Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh – The Caledonian (which locals have affectionately called The Cally since the hotel, designed in red Permian sandstone by architect J.M. Dick Peddie, opened in 1903).