Hiking Wild walks, crumbling castles, Michelin-starred restaurants and more of Cumbria’s best experiences Around these wave-battered isles, you’ll find whisky distilleries, awesome beaches, epic landscapes that leave walkers weak at the knees and tombs, stone circles and ruins that weave hypnotic tales of Scotland’s earliest inhabitants, alongside million-strong bird colonies that transport birders to feathered heaven. All ‘best of’ guides are subjective to a large extent and this isn’t any different. I live in Scotland and am well travelled in my own country but I really enjoyed this guide. There are two large sections on Edinburgh and Glasgow. The latter I know best because I live here. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t agree on the best restaurants, galleries or walks, or even that the guide is already out of date. It’s a good starting point for any traveller coming to the city. The regional section covers the main tourist centres. I particularly enjoyed the best outdoor and best historical places sections and I have a new list of places to visit. There is also a comprehensive guide to ‘the best’ walks. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Scotland. I notice there is a 2019 update on its way too. In the summer, The Dundee Summer (Bash) Street Festival takes over the city as part of the Year of Stories. Dundee will be renamed BEANOTOWN and host a comic museum, film screenings, street performances and world-record attempts. Most sections are done by island and bookended by Irvine’s legendary knowledge of history combined with the best places to go.

Legends still wash over the landscape on this timeless island – one of the best is the Marie Celeste–style tale of how the Neolithic village of Skara Brae was mysteriously abandoned around 2500 BCE and reclaimed by the sands, only to be uncovered by a storm in 1850. Even today, the low stone huts look as though their Stone Age occupants just walked out the door. Some of the glen's finest walks – to the Lost Valley, for example – follow the routes taken by fleeing clanspeople, many of whom perished in the snow. The Mull of Galloway Lighthouse has views of Isle of Man and Cumbria, with porpoises and dolphins to spot close to the nearby beaches. It sits within an RSPB nature reserve. Three former lighthouse keepers’ cottages on the peninsula are now self-catering holiday accommodation. Enjoy lunch with a view at Gallie Craig, a beautifully constructed modern coffee house with a turf roof to blend into its surroundings that was featured on the television program Grand Designs. The best way to really get inside Scotland's landscapes is to walk them. Here, peaks tower over lochs and sea cliffs gaze over the wind-whipped sea, but there are short woodland trails and charming strolls through valleys dusted with purple heather too. Top of the wish list for many hikers is the 96-mile West Highland Way from Milngavie (near Glasgow) to Fort William, a weeklong walk through some of the country's finest scenery, finishing in the shadow of its highest peak, Ben Nevis.Things to do:Visit Balmoral Castle, the Scottish residence of the British Royal family. From April until August, the grounds, gardens and exhibitions are open to the public. A trip to Scotland wouldn’t be complete without some whisky tasting. Enjoy a distillery tour at Royal Lochnagar Distillerywhere you’ll learn the history behind one of Scotland’s most exclusive whiskies. Feel a sense of adventure inAberfeldy. There are castles to be explored, wildlife to meet and lots of whiskies that are waiting to be tasted. They say west is best and Linlithgow steps up to the mark. Once known as West Lothian’s county town, this historical gem lies between Edinburgh and Falkirk.

These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community. Scotland has drama in every corner: mountains that rise straight out of the sea; remote island archipelagos; legends of fearsome bravery and terrible betrayal. Throw in countless lochs, breathtaking wildlife — eagles, stags, whales and salmon — that need space, and isolation, to continue to exist. And don’t forget Scotland has castles aplenty, many of them broken ruins, but some given new life as aristocratic hotels. In short, this is a place with a rawness, and a purity, that will appeal to anyone with an ounce of poetry in their soul. The house, grounds and gardens have been transformed following the intervention of Prince Charles and the Prince’s Trust. There’s the building itself, a great café, restaurant and many ways to walk. Several garden areas, including the flagship walled garden. Gardens under extensive development but we can be sure that what will emerge and mature will be a wonder and a wandering, probably for generations. Wigtown became Scotland’s National Book Town in 1998 to help revitalise a town that had lost its major industries. Today more than 20 book-related businesses are based here, and with more than a quarter of a million books to choose from this is a real paradise for bibliophiles. Travel:Linlithgow is well served by rail routes connecting with Edinburgh, Glasgow, Falkirk, Stirling and Cumbernauld.Camping England’s last wild-camping refuge saved as campaigners win legal battle against landowners The true Scot's insider's guide to the very best Scotland has to offer. Fully revised and updated in Pete Irvine’s own unique style, the 13th edition includes over 2000 recommendations for every type of adventure. Fyne Ales has a strong environmental ethos. As Smith explains: "The envi­ronment, the land, the estate, is really important to us. Whatever activities we do, we always try to keep it neutral, either not taking from the land and if we can, trying to enhance it. All our brewing water is rainwater that collects on the hills." Spent grain is fed to the estate's herds of red deer and highland cattle. There are plenty ofbeautiful places to visit in every region, but why notslow down your travelsand experience all that Scotland has to offer? Enjoy a relaxing break away and delve into the manyslow travel experiencesthat allow you to explore at your own pace. The next village along, Port Wemyss, has views of the uninhabited island of Orsay and the Rhinns of Islay lighthouse, built in 1825 by the Stevenson lighthouse builders.

If you want to know the top 10 places to eat in Edinburgh right now, look no further than the latest edition of guidebook guru Peter Irvine's Scotland the Best’– Daily Record In Perthshire, the heart of Scotland, picturesque towns bloom with flowers, distilleries emit tempting malty odors and sheep graze in impossibly green meadows. There's a feeling of the bounty of nature that no other place in Scotland can replicate. Travel:Travelling by car is the best way to see Aberfeldy in all its glory and is served by an extensive number of road networks across Scotland’s cities. You can use a combination of both train and bus by getting the train to Perth or Pitlochry. A ferry from Wemyss Bay delivers you to the Art Deco seaside resort of Rothesay with its kitsch ice cream parlours, palm trees and promenade. Bute is a small island in the Firth of Clyde full of character and dotted with heather-clad moorlands, beaches, and coves. It has reinvented itself as a popular location for outdoor holidays, offering hiking, cycling, and fishing spots.Leave the pranksters taking selfies by the Butt of Lewis sign to their fun; the real magic of the largest island in the Western Isles can be found on its beaches. From their first arrival in late spring to the raucous feeding frenzies of high summer, the vast colonies of gannets, guillemots, skua, puffins and kittiwakes at Hermaness, Noss, Sumburgh Head and Fair Isle provide some of Britain's most impressive birdwatching experiences.