Discover... Scotland

Scotland is like nowhere else in Britain. It may have been governed from England for the past 300 years, but this will always be a separate country, with a legal system, culture, and more than one language of its own. There are too many great places to list here, but there are some that should not be missed.

Edinburgh is one of the finest cities in Europe, with enough excellent museums, galleries, restaurants and nightlife to satisfy any visitor. The tall, dark tenements of the Old Town form a jagged line, split by half-hidden alleys and stairways, which runs up the ramp of the Royal Mile to the castle, balanced high above the city on a granite peak. From here you can enjoy fantastic views across Edinburgh to the countryside beyond and out to sea, as well as displays on the castle and the country’s history.

In the other direction, the Royal Mile runs downhill to the palace and ruined abbey at Holyrood, site of one of the more dramatic incidents in the eventful life of Mary, Queen of Scots: the murder in 1566 of her secretary David Riccio by cronies of her husband, Lord Darnley.

The New Town, built between the 1770s and 1830s across the valley to the north, is a masterpiece of Georgian planning, with many original neoclassical buildings stillin place along its wide straight avenues and beautiful squares. In Charlotte Square you can visit the National Trust for Scotland’s Georgian House, to learn more about life here two centuries ago.

Another lowlands town to which many visitors are drawn is St Andrews, along the coast to the north-east of Edinburgh: the spiritual home of golf. While golfers make their pilgrimages to the headquarters of the Royal and Ancient Club and the Old Course, those less excited by the sport will be consoled by the spectacular ruined cathedral and castle, with its network of 16th century siege tunnels.

South of Edinburgh, in the valley of the River Tweed, are two more remarkable ecclesiastical ruins: Melrose Abbey, a Gothic relic beloved of Sir Walter Scott, where Robert the Bruce’s heart is buried; and Dryburgh Abbey, no less picturesque, further downstream, where Scott himself is interred. It is not far from here to the writer’s home at Abbotsford, preserved almost exactly as he left it in 1832.

Further west along the valley is Traquair House, home of the Maxwell Stuart family since 1491. The family held fast to their Catholic faith throughout the religious wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, fighting for the Jacobite cause in 1715 and 1745. You can still see the secret room where priests lived in hiding.

Scotland’s second great city, Glasgow, for centuries a port on the Clyde, grew huge with the steel and shipbuilding industries in the 18th and 19th centuries. You can learn about this maritime past in the Clydebuilt, a new museum on the city’s waterfront.

Much of the medieval city disappeared during the boom years, but the marvellous St Mungo’s Cathedral has stood since the 13th century, a stern monument to medieval piety and the only one of Scotland’s mainland cathedrals to survive the Reformation almost unscathed.

St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art is nearby, set in a reconstruction of the former Bishop’s Palace. There are more fine museums and galleries in the heart of the city, but Glasgow’s most spectacular cultural attraction, the Burrell Collection, is housed a couple of miles further south. This collection of more than 8,500 works was assembled by shipping magnate Sir William Burrell over the course of more than 60 years.

South-east of Glasgow is New Lanark, now a World Heritage Site, where cotton mill owner David Dale began to build a model village for his factory workers in the late 18th century. His son-in-law Robert Owen  continued the project from 1798, providing employees with the world’s first co-operative store as well as educational facilities for children and adults. You can spend an entire day here, walking between fascinating recreations of the period in the sandstone mill buildings.

Two of the Lowlands’ finest castles stand on opposite sides of the country: to the west, on the coast of Ayrshire, is Culzean Castle, a glorious 18th century clifftop mansion, built for the Earl of Cassilis by Robert Adam. You can admire the luxurious interiors and fabulous sea views, then tour 500 acres of country park.

In the east, near Dundee, is Glamis Castle, home of the Earls of Strathmore, which still has a hardened medieval feel despite 17th century fairytale additions and its sumptuous gardens. It looks like the setting for Beauty and the Beast. The atmosphere is heightened by the ghost stories attached to the fortress.

To the north and west of Glasgow the landscape changes, as lochs and rivers cut in from the sea, creating peninsulas and islands. Visit Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull, seat of the MacLean Clan, a tough- looking 13th century fortress perched on rocky cliffs, or journey on to the tiny, magical island of Iona, off Mull’s western tip, where St Columba began his mission to convert the Scots to Christianity in the 6th century, and where 48 Scottish kings lie buried beside the ancient abbey.

The Atlantic’s Gulf Stream brings warmer water to Scotland’s north-west coast, leaving it milder than seems likely, and making the beautiful scenery and truly exceptional coastline even more irresistible.  There are evocative reminders of the past here too, such as Eileen Donan Castle on Loch Duich, one of the most photographed places in Scotland, or the Glenfinnan Monument at the head of Loch Shiel, where in 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard at the start of his doomed rebellion.

Many of the islands off the north-west and northern coasts are also worth a visit. The most famous and easily accessible is the bleakly beautiful Isle of Skye, where, in addition to enjoying the magnificent mountainous scenery, you can visit the Museum of the Isles at Armadale. Then take a trip to Dunvegan Castle, and see the mysterious Fairy Flag, said to protect the castle’s owners, the Clan MacLeod, in battle. There is also the Skye Museum of Island Life, in the northern Trotternish Peninsula, which tells the story of crofting through the centuries.

Meanwhile, in the windswept but extremely hospitable Orkney Isles, six miles from Scotland’s northern coast, you can visit some stunning prehistoric remains, including the Ring of Brodgar, a 103 metre wide circle of 27 tall, blade-like stones set in place 5,000 years ago; the earlier burial chamber at Maes Howe; and the incredibly well-preserved buildings at Skara Brae, a Neolithic fishing village hidden for millennia under sand dunes until a storm blew its cover in 1850.

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