Review: Scaramanga Medium Overlander Satchel

In which G.M. Norton potters about with his new bag.

A lovely lady from Scaramanga sent me an electronic telegram to ask if I would be interested in one of their leather bags. Seeing it as my duty to review one for you, I agreed without hesitation. You need to be assured of their quality, after all.

Sharing a name with my favourite ever Bond villain, played with style by the recently departed Christopher Lee, Scaramanga are a Scottish enterprise, based in Fife. They have quite the range of bags available including traditional school-type satchels, flight bags and holdalls.

After much deliberation, I picked their medium Overlander satchel which measures an impressive 16”.

I wanted a bag that could comfortably hold my Macbook, camera, notepad, lunchbox, a book or two plus the obligatory bottle of alcohol for those days when a hipflask just isn’t enough.

Scaramanga offer a small and large version of the Overlander satchel, but adopting Goldilocks characteristics, I felt the medium option was 'just right'. Based on a black leather pilot's case, it is priced at £155. While this is a lot of money to splurge out, the quality is truly first class.

So, what do you get for your moolah?

Well, it has pockets galore, which is super for secreting all kinds of odds and ends.

There are so many compartments. My favourite is the handy space at the front which is perfect for a book or newspaper. Not content with this, the front also boasts a zipped section and small pocket, along with pockets on each side.

The main compartment is very generous indeed. I’ve been testing just how much I can fit inside. So far, almost all my worldly belongings!

Rather helpfully, Scaramanga have a guide on their webular site showing you just what each bag can take. For the medium Overlander, it suggests you can carry a laptop up to 16", large textbooks, clothes, a pair of shoes, a towel or blanket, a tablet, wallet, lunchbox, A4 folder and files and a magazine or newspaper.

Gadzooks!

The Overlander is made from beautiful thick leather. It has a wonderful vintage patina, I’m really excited to see how it ages as it grows old with me.

The sturdy leather strap really is a thing of beauty. It is pleasingly substantial, reminiscent of the kind of thick leather belt that you imagine a rugged cowboy to wear.

Getting the bag delivered was terribly exciting. It arrived in an extremely large box and upon opening, I discovered that my new baby had been lovingly placed in a Scaramanga branded drawstring cloth bag.

As well as offering a fine range of bags, Scaramanga also sell leather accessories, journals and some utterly beautiful items for the home. I'm particularly taken with their divine steamer trunks.

The Hovis advertisement springs to mind. Now, where's my bicycle?

You can find Scaramanga on their website, along with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Even Google+. They put all manner of beautiful pictorials up so they are worth a follow for this alone.

Thank you Scaramanga for my splendid new bag. They have very kindly given me a 25% discount code for any leather bag or accessory (excluding sale items). If you are tempted to get something for yourself, just use ‘nortonofmorton’ at the checkout. Be quick though, the code runs out on 7th August 2015.