THE DUN THING

Arty Dundee needs to be on your UK wishlist, FIONA WHITTY discovers

- FIONA WHITTY

SCOTLAND'S fourth biggest city used to be famous for the three Js... jute, jam and journalism. But now Dundee's J, J & J have been replaced - by the V&A!

Part of the city's £1billion waterfront regeneration, this super-modern design museum - the first V&A outside of London - celebrates Scotland's influence in fashion, architecture, innovation and culture. It was devised by esteemed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma - the man behind Tokyo's Olympic Stadium - with 2,500 exterior stone panels to emulate Scotland's rugged coastal cliffs.

The interior whips your breath away too. Its full-height atrium is filled with light and texture and a wide sweeping staircase adds to the feeling of space (free entry, vam. ac.uk/dundee).

Upstairs houses three galleries and the Oak Room - an original two-storey tearoom by Charles Rennie Mackintosh that was discovered in pieces ready for scrap - and currently there's a colour-filled Garden Futures: Designing with Nature ticketed exhibition focusing on our passion for gardens.

We couldn't leave without popping into the V&A's Tatha restaurant where floor-to-ceiling windows provide views down the River Tay.

Their Taste Of Tayside afternoon tea went down a treat, with delicious locally inspired nibbles such as a haggis and cheddar scone, a Forfar bridie - a semi-circular minced beef pasty - and a mini Dundee fruit cake.

Next door was another prime attraction: RRS Discovery, Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic exploration ship.