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T H E M AG A Z I N E F O R PE O PL E W H O LOV E SCOT L A N D

RESTORING

HABITATS FOR WILDLIFE, FOR PEOPLE AND FOR THE PLANET

DESIGN ICONS

Architectural treasures

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WALKS WITH COLOUR Autumn days out

WILD RIDE

Tam o’ Shanter by bike

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N AT I O N A L T RU S T F O R SCOT L A N D

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N M U AUT R THE MAGAZINE FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE SCOTLAND

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WHO’S ON BOARD...

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RICH ROWE Outdoor and nature writer Rich Rowe looks at the Trust’s exciting habitat restoration projects on page 16.

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MARY MIERS The Highlands-based architectural historian delves into the stories of the people who designed some of the Trust’s landmark buildings on page 32.

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s Glasgow prepares to welcome world leaders, government officials, voluntary organisations and businesses to the COP26 conference, hopefully to agree commitments to limit the devastating impact of the climate emergency, we want to use this issue of our magazine to highlight some of the areas where the Trust is making a difference.

Let’s be in no doubt: things are already changing. We’ve seen that for ourselves – responding to more flooding, storm events and wildfire risk, and witnessing declines in some of our important wildlife species. The scale and rapidity of change is one of the biggest challenges the Trust faces over the coming decades. If we are to continue to protect Scotland’s heritage so everyone can enjoy it, we need to act now to make ourselves as resilient as possible.

More We are positive that we can rise to the challenge. Our article from the ‘Lost and Found’ (page 16) introduces some of the work we are Trust doing to identify and map where climate change is most likely to threaten our heritage – so we can better plan for change. It reveals Discover the exclusive some great nature-based solutions, such as Members Area of our rewetting damaged peatland and establishing website: nts.org.uk/ members-area more woodland, to help capture carbon and increase wildlife habitats. Our innovative project at Threave is a brilliant example of how we are reshaping the landscape to be more resilient.

Climate change affects us all – and we can all make a difference. How we travel, what we buy and what we eat are all in our own hands, and we want to do our bit to give you more sustainable options.

You’ll see more electric vehicle charging points popping up at Trust properties and, as this issue showcases (see page 6), we’re serving up a much more local and sustainable food menu at our cafes and shops.

We couldn’t do any of this without our members and generous donors. Thank you for your support.

Stuart Brooks

Head of Conservation & Policy National Trust for Scotland GORDON CAIRNS Writer and cycling enthusiast Gordon Cairns follows Tam o’ Shanter around Ayrshire.

See page 49.

THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND’S STATEMENT OF NEUTRALITY The National Trust for Scotland is a legally constituted charity independent of government. The Trust was established to further its charitable purposes, which are for the public benefit. The Trust is independent of all political parties and will not participate in any activity which furthers the interests of any political organisation or secures or opposes a change in the law for political purposes. No Trustee or employee of the National Trust for Scotland may in this capacity express political views or offer support for any political party, candidate or politician. The Trust reserves the right to organise and carry out campaigning activity, including bringing influence and pressure to bear on government, ministers, politicians and political parties, or to offer support for specific policies, if this serves its charitable purposes. In such circumstances the Trust will always comply with charity law, civil and criminal laws and codes of conduct as they apply in addition to its fiduciary duties.

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Welcome

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Contents

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CONTENTS

N E E D H E L P ? C A L L YOUR M E M B E R S H I P T E A M O N 0 1 3 1 3 8 5 7 4 9 0

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10 ARTISTIC INSPIRATION Why Kellie Castle was such an inspiration for painter John Henry Lorimer

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16 SPACE TO BREATHE How we’re tackling the climate crisis by restoring our woodlands, wetlands and peatlands

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ICONS OF DESIGN The architects who shaped Scotland 49 WILD RIDE Hop on your bike and retrace Tam o’ Shanter’s infamous journey

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25 HIDDEN SECRETS Fifteen fascinating wee gems tucked away across our amazing places

ALAMY, MIKE BOLAM, DOUGIE CUNNINGHAM, BOXDOG

40 WALKS WITH COLOUR Five sublime autumn routes to follow, from glorious gardens to mountain peaks

REGULARS 5 AROUND THE COUNTRY News, events and updates from right across the Trust 13 THE WILD SIDE Our work to manage the wonderful woodland at Corrieshalloch Gorge

15 ME AND MY TRUST Chitra Ramaswamy takes a short break with her family at Mar Lodge Estate in the Cairngorms 57 YOUR GUIDE Special events this autumn and winter

65 OUT IN THE GARDEN Crathes Castle Head Gardener James Hannaford on the challenges and delights of autumn 67 CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE Every card and gift

purchased in our online shop helps support the work of the Trust 72 MEET OUR EXPERTS Conservation advisor Lesley Scott on how she helps protect and maintain our collections AUTUMN & WINTER 2021 � 3

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Help save Burns work

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HELP US SAVE BURNS’S WORK FOR THE NATION

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Join with our leading cultural institutions to protect the work of our literary heroes for the future

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ou may have seen in the news that the remarkable Honresfield Library – a tremendous private collection almost entirely inaccessible since the 1930s – has come up for auction. Many of the works in the collection are of deep significance to Scotland’s literary and cultural history, and the opportunity to save such treasures for the nation is extremely rare.

Alongside manuscripts by Sir Walter Scott and the Brontë siblings is an early volume of poems by Robert Burns in his own hand, containing some of his earliest recorded literary works.

Known as the First Commonplace Book, it was handwritten at the age of 24 before Burns found fame. The collection also includes individual autograph poems (‘Cessnock Banks’ and ‘The Brigs of Ayr’), and a group of the poet’s earliest correspondence, including the only extant letter to his beloved father.

We want these items of unique cultural significance to come home, where they can be made accessible to the public. We have therefore joined a consortium of heritage organisations, along with authors’ houses, museums and organisations such as the British

Cover and handwritten pages from Burns’s First Commonplace Book

Library, Oxford’s Bodleian, Abbotsford and the National Library of Scotland, with the express purpose of saving the collection for the nation. The whole campaign is being co-ordinated by the Friends of the National Libraries.

The Honresfield Library’s owners have delayed the sale to give our consortium the chance to acquire it.

Success will mean that uniquely precious works penned by some of the

greatest writers ever to grace the nations of the United Kingdom, collected obsessively in the 19th century by the Law brothers, will be made accessible to the public for the first time.

We are proud to be part of this consortium to raise the money necessary to save this one-of-a-kind collection of literature for the nation. We’re thrilled to be working in partnership with the National Library of Scotland and Abbotsford to highlight the importance of the Scottish books and documents, to save the library and bring these items home, caring for them and making them accessible through digital and other means in Scotland.

This is fundamental to our core purpose of ensuring that Scotland’s heritage is valued by everyone and protected now and for the future.

We want to bring these precious works home where they belong.

Help the efforts to save this library and bring Burns and Scott home by donating at nts.org.uk/library

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Cafes

DAYS OUT

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Just treats to make you, and the planet, feel good, thanks to the best local ingredients and suppliers

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f you feel peckish when you’re visiting our places in the coming weeks, you’re in for a treat. We have a whole new range of mouthwatering food and drink to enjoy at many of our places across the country.

And they don’t just taste amazing: the goodies on sale in our cafes are sourced from Scotland, helping us to cut food miles and boost sustainability.

Take Mackie’s ice cream, for example: not only does its fresh cream and milk come from Aberdeenshire, but the production process is powered by wind and solar energy.

‘We have spent a lot of time understanding how Mackie’s has made its production more sustainable,’ says Bart Bukowski, the Trust’s head of catering services. ‘The firm’s “sky to scoop” ethos, with everything made on site, is fascinating. We’re delighted to work with a brand that’s

striving to become the UK’s greenest comes from the majestic Ochil hills, ice cream producer.’ carefully drawn from protected land.

Fancy a cuppa? You can enjoy ‘We chose Highland Spring Fairtrade-certified hot drinks because it has been ranked from Glasgow-based the most ethical natural coffee roaster Matthew source water brand for Algie. ‘Matthew Algie’s the 11th year running. commitment to It’s also the only UK Every time you use sustainable sourcing brand producing 100% our cafes, your support and the fact its Scottish recycled plastic bottles,’ helps us protect roastery is the first in says Bart. the places we the world to achieve the As well as improving care for Carbon Neutral Gold the visitor experience, our Standard makes it a perfect fit new food and drinks offering is with our own values,’ adds Bart. part of a strategy to streamline the You could cool down with delicious Trust’s supply chain. The majority of lemonades and craft sodas from our food and drink will be delivered to Summer House of Aberdeenshire. properties by one centrally based ‘These soft drinks are made on a farm, supplier, reducing the number of using only natural ingredients – the individual deliveries. mint and lavender are grown in the And the good news is that visitors family’s own walled garden,’ he says. will have even more time to tuck in The Trust’s sole water supplier is this year, thanks to an extended season Highland Spring, where every drop at many places.

It all adds up

Tuck in to delicious, and sustainable, food at the Glencoe Visitor Centre

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News, various

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Our virtual AGM is on Saturday 18 September, offering the chance to hear about our new strategy.

Register to attend by 5pm on Friday 17 September. Full details of the AGM will be posted online afterwards.

Trust archaeologists investigating illicit whisky stills in Torridon

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Look out for more from our illicit whisky project

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Everyone at the Trust was saddened to hear of the death of Trust vice-president Simon Fraser this summer.

Simon was one of our strongest supporters and we are grateful for all he did for our charity over many years.

e are delighted that our partnership with The Glenlivet will continue for another year, enabling us to uncover and share more stories from Scotland’s history of illicit whisky distilling.

There are around 30 known illicit-still sites on properties cared for by the Trust, including Mar Lodge Estate and Torridon, where our team have recently been undertaking fascinating work. Our expert archaeologists have also been doing fieldwork

at Threave with test pits and metal detectors. And we also know of sites at Kintail, Ben Lomond, Ben Lawers, Glencoe and Grey Mare’s Tail, so there is plenty more still to uncover and share with our members.

We’ve also enjoyed hearing members’ stories from the history of illicit distilling. If you have a story to share, email our team at whisky@nts.org.uk.

Read more from the Pioneering Spirit project at nts.org.uk/ pioneering-spirit

FIGHTING HARD FOR CULLODEN

Crucial battlefield under attack

Few gifts offer as much as a Trust membership. As well as giving access to our places, gift membership helps us to protect Scotland’s heritage, now and for generations to come. nts.org.uk/join

As well as caring for the battlefield and sharing its stories, we’re trying to stop inappropriate modern development encroaching on Culloden – and there’s still time to donate to our Fighting Fund, set

up to raise money to secure the site’s future.

One recent successful fundraiser (and brilliant fitness challenge) saw the Culloden team sponsored to take a combined 500,000 steps in six weeks.

Peace reigns at Culloden – for now

Meanwhile, the fund received a very welcome $50,000 boost from the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA. nts.org.uk/cullodensfighting-fund

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Art from the heart

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Regional curator Antonia Laurence Allen discusses the influence of Kellie Castle on John Henry Lorimer

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ABOVE Lorimer’s studio at Kellie Castle.

His Sir David Chalmers and Le Peintre des Fleurs are being lent by the Trust to the show

‘His paintings depict the light and love that coursed through Kellie when it was home to the family’

Other Scottish artists of the time, such as the Colourists, were responding to the likes of Matisse and Picasso, and their work has remained much sought after today.

Incidentally, as Lorimer fell out of favour, his younger brother Robert’s star was rising. Robert was 14 when the family began renovating Kellie in 1878; by watching the craftsmen, he learned their skills and he would go on to become one of Scotland’s key Arts and Crafts architects (page 37).

So Lorimer watched Robert’s success as his career waned. He took on the lease of Kellie after his mother died in 1916 and retreated there. In the years before his death in 1936 he was to be found in his studio with a hot water bottle under a coat to keep warm. This inauspicious end belies the warmth that glows from his paintings, depicting the light and love that coursed through Kellie during the years it was home to the wider family. These are the paintings you’ll see at the exhibition – and this is the feeling you’ll get when you visit Kellie today.

Reflections: The Light and Life of John Henry Lorimer, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh, 6 November 2021 to 20 March 2022

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his winter, Edinburgh will host the first ever retrospective of the work of John Henry Lorimer (1856-1936), and we’re delighted to be partnering with the City Art Centre, which is hosting the exhibition.

John Henry Lorimer enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame and fortune at the start of his career as a society portrait painter, but he ended his days more or less forgotten. Intriguingly, both his rise and his fall have their roots at Kellie Castle in Fife, now in the care of the Trust.

Lorimer’s parents had acquired a lease for Kellie in 1878, and the 15th-century castle became the subject of many of his paintings, in which he strove to capture the unique light of the East Neuk, the love of family and the warmth of home.

To the artist, Kellie represented the love between a family and a home, with each member playing a part in its restoration. It became his sanctuary. His 1893 painting Any Port in a Storm is a metaphor for the way he felt about the castle, showing the beauty of the interior and suggesting the romantic welcome one might get here.

Yet Kellie also hindered Lorimer’s career; retreating there allowed him to forget a changing world. Once he had developed his style – a bold brushstroke that drew attention to the surface of the canvas, but did not break the illusion of depth, thereby creating scenes at once luminous and real while also painterly and modern – he did not deviate from it. It gave him commercial success, but it did not break new ground.

His paintings sold well and were popular among late Victorian and early Edwardian society, but he was not part of the avant-garde.

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‘GOLDEN LEAVES SHIMMER IN THE HIGHLAND BREEZE’

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Natural Heritage advisor Rob Dewar on the magic of Corrieshalloch Gorge

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ith a name meaning ‘ugly hollow’ in Gaelic, Corrieshalloch Gorge must have been seen as an inaccessible chasm by our ancestors. Today, though, this spectacular site, owned and managed by the Trust, and a National Nature Reserve, is one of our most visited countryside properties.

We have rebuilt parts of the old Victorian walkway known as Lady Fowler’s Fern Walk that leads to Sir John Fowler’s suspension bridge.

Swaying on this testament to the ingenuity of Victorian engineering, the Falls of Measach plunging alongside, you experience the dizzy delights of Corrieshalloch Gorge. The water thundering down the River Droma is, however, only a trickle compared with the vast amounts of melt-water that cut deep into the vertical rock joints to create the most spectacular notch gorge in Scotland. The gorge is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest for its ‘upland birchwood’, dramatic geomorphology and, in stark contrast, a delicate and rare cranefly that relies on the deadwood of fallen birch trees.

As well as clear-felling post-war plantations to expand the native broadleaf woodland, the Trust is

TOP The suspension bridge offers a stunning viewpoint BELOW Red squirrels can be seen at Corrieshalloch

eradicating invasive species through Project Wipeout. Removal of the Rhododendron ponticum that threatens to smother the gorge also ensures visitors can gain better views of the diverse and beautiful native flora and fauna.

In autumn, trees such as hazel, elm, birch and rowan begin to glow, and the golden-leafed aspen shimmers in the Highland breeze. Red squirrels, increasing their range in north-west Scotland, may be seen gathering food.

As winter envelops, stately Scots pines can weigh heavy with snow, and in times of severe frost the gorge sparkles with ice, the water flow defying time as it is held in stunning icicles that hang from the sheer cliffs.

There is always something to lift the spirit at Corrieshalloch Gorge. The ‘ugly hollow’ is today a scene of wonder and beauty, enhanced by the Trust’s woodland conservation work. This National Nature Reserve is a testament to the power of nature. With the latest plans to develop a new visitor centre and create routes into the upper reaches of the gorge, it offers a truly wonderful experience: a gateway to nature and one not to be missed. nts.org.uk/corrieshalloch AUTUMN & WINTER 2021 � 13

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The Wild Side

THE WILD SIDE

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Listen to our podcast from Mar Lodge Estate, hosted by Jackie Bird nts.org.uk/podcasts

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‘ W E P L AY F R I S B E E O N T H E L AW N A N D WA L K A LO N G T H E R I V E R S I D E ’ Chitra Ramaswamy and her family enjoy a short break at Mar Lodge

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few miles west of Braemar, at the southern edge of the Lairig Ghru mountain pass to Aviemore, lies Mar Lodge: a late-Victorian hunting lodge, almost mock Tudor in appearance, originally built by the first Duke of Fife and Louise, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Such high-ceilinged, wood-panelled places are, for the vast majority of us, to be admired from afar (or, at best, snooped around for an hour).

But we’re going to be staying here, among the thousands of stags’ heads and framed sketches of bygone notables, for three nights.

We cross a white lattice bridge over the River Dee, which babbles low over rounded stones, and where, tomorrow, we’ll see a red squirrel loitering in the noon sun. At the end of a sweeping drive is the lodge, deep in the valley of the Dee, bathed in Highland wind, light and history.

At a colossal 29,000 hectares, Mar Lodge Estate is Britain’s largest National Nature Reserve and one of Scotland’s biggest ecological success stories: salmon fishing here is on a 100% catch-and-release basis; the ancient forest is slowly regenerating; and hen harriers have returned. Moorland, remnants of original Caledonian pine forest, wetlands and sub-arctic mountains – it’s like a ‘greatest hits’ of Scotland.

Plenty of people are taking the opportunity to enjoy spending time among these natural riches. Driving from our self-catering lodge apartment to the Linn of Dee, we see tents pitched alongside the river, camper vans parked nearby, people wading into the water in neoprene swim shoes.

TOP The days pass fast. We play frisbee on the The lodge has five bright green lawn, roast topside from the luxury apartments Braemar butcher, walk from the lodge to the for rent, and there Dee along a sliver of riverside path flanked by are also holiday foxgloves, harebells and frothy clusters of lady’s properties in the bedstraw.

The latter smells exactly like a vanilla estate’s walled ice-cream dropped on a warm haystack. garden and group We wade into the river where Queen Victoria accommodation in the stable block once picnicked and where the salmon now leap again in abundance. We toss stones into the water, because that’s what children do. Fifteen Munros rise from this estate. Our time of life dictates that they must remain mountains of the mind for now, but somewhere to the north-west they hover for real. We’ll come back for them.

The National Trust for Scotland cares for over 55 self-catering holiday properties, and are introducing more this autumn.

Book at nts.org.uk/holidays AUTUMN & WINTER AUTUMN 20212021 � 15 � 15

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Me and my Trust

ME AND MY TRUST

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FOUND As the world’s attention turns to Glasgow and the COP26 conference, the Trust is putting landscape-scale restoration at the heart of its response to the climate and biodiversity crises WORDS: RICH ROWE

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PICTURES: MIKE BOLAM

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STARTING OVER Creating a self-sustaining woodland-wetland ecosystem at Threave Estate, in Dumfries & Galloway, is just one of the Trust’s projects to conserve our stocks of ‘natural capital’.

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t first glance, Kelton Mains Farm, a former dairy farm on the Threave Estate in rural Galloway, looks unexceptional. With its patchwork of fields separated into neat compartments by stock fences, stone dykes and mature hedges, all interspersed with isolated pockets of woodland, it is a scene that will be familiar to many. But all this is about to change, thanks to an outdoor experiment on a grand scale – one that involves everything from enabling the recovery of natural processes to training ‘smart’ cows where to graze.

In a first for the Trust, the Threave Landscape Restoration Project will explore how to marry once-intensively farmed land with some of the richest ecologically protected habitats in the south of Scotland to create a fully functioning and self-sustaining woodland-wetland ecosystem. Support for this phase of the project comes from the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership Scheme, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and HSBC UK. The project seeks to solve a longstanding dilemma: how to connect the vacant buildings on the old farm with the other built and natural wonders on and around the Threave Estate.

‘It has taken us a while to realise that what we need to do is deal with the land properly from the point of view of biodiversity, habitat and environmental sustainability,’ explains Sam Gallacher, the Trust’s operations manager for Dumfries & Galloway.

‘Nature has an amazing capacity to recover. I think people have got used to a negative spiral around reports of habitat loss and environmental destruction, which can lead to a feeling that it has all gone too far, and there is

RIGHT Wildflower meadows, like this one at Threave, attract pollinators

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nothing to be done. We want to change that thinking.’

GOING WITH THE FLOW In preparation for the project at Threave, the Trust worked with scientists to gather a vast amount of data on different areas of habitat, specific species and new technologies and methods that could be used to further the project’s conservation aims.

The surveys revealed a landscape full of untapped potential. ‘All of our soil, carbon and habitat surveys found that there is a really rich base, but just not where it needs to be,’ explains Sam. ‘So, our work is not about creating from scratch but rather about providing space for things to increase over time.’

To date, much of the effort has focused on ‘undraining’ the land and restoring the flow of water – with key

Thank you

Your membership helps to fund our conservation projects. Find out more about supporting work like this at nts.org.uk/donate

decisions made about when to stand back and when to intervene. Rather than continue to maintain 18th-century flood defences that will likely fail anyway, the Galloway Dee will be allowed to do what rivers do: to rise and fall, to breach, flow and create.

Meanwhile, once-natural waterways that have been straightened, dredged and deadened are now being slowed, with wildlife-rich riparian woodland restored along their banks.

Elsewhere, areas of wildflower meadows have already been returned to former glories, while there has also been a shift from densely packed plantation woodlands to trialling different replanting methods and native woodland regeneration.

And then there are the smart cows.

As we begin the process of removing all stock fences, we are transitioning herds of Galloway ‘belties’ to a freer form of grazing that will allow them to roam over more difficult areas of ground, including woodland. This ‘no-fence’ technology sees cattle fitted with special collars that can be controlled by farmers from their smartphones. When an individual cow strays from its designated grazing area, the collar emits a sound, followed by a pulse. ‘Cows are pretty smart and they quickly learn not to go further,’ says Sam. Such conservation grazing has huge ecological value, with the cows’ trampling helping churn up the ground and provide conditions for a more resilient mix of woodland to self-seed and become established.

NATURAL CAPITAL The experimental work at Threave reflects the Trust’s wider commitment to conserve stocks of natural capital – the vital ‘ecosystem services’ provided by nature that benefit humans, such as fresh water, clean air, crop pollination and climate regulation.

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LEFT Intensively farmed land will be encouraged to return to nature

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Natural Capital Baseline Assessment will inform our future actions

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The Trust is about to embark on a comprehensive project to map the full range of ecosystem services across its entire estate.

The is a vital plank in a 10-year organisational strategy that comes into effect from next March.

‘The Natural Capital Baseline Assessment is a key part of a journey towards helping us quantify what we can do to minimise our environmental impact and contribute to tackling both the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis,’ says Stuart Brooks, our head of conservation and policy.

Using satellite imagery, digital data and ground surveys, the assessment will focus on mapping and quantifying ecosystem services and the social benefits that flow from them, including water quality, flood alleviation

and crop pollination. It will determine not only the current condition of the Trust’s natural capital but also its potential – letting us see our land through a different lens.

‘It will help us direct future action to ensure that ecosystems are as resilient as possible,’ explains Stuart.

Separately, work is also under way on a map that will highlight current and future climate-change risks for the Trust’s built and natural heritage across its estate. Undertaken alongside Historic Environment Scotland, the work builds on an earlier climate-change risk map produced by our counterparts at the National Trust covering the rest of the UK. This Scotland-specific map highlights risks such as storm damage, flooding and coastal erosion due to extreme weather events.

Meadow at Threave

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ABOVE This glistening pool is part of the peat bogs at Inverewe

Understandably, Covid has slowed some of the momentum but, with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) coming to Glasgow in November, plus 2021 marking the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, there is more focus than ever on delivering actions to tackle climate change. There is also a greater understanding of how healthy ecosystems can play their part.

The ability of landscapes to capture and store carbon has come to dominate the conversation around natural capital, and Scotland is home to an abundance of woodland and peatland – two of the most important carbon stores of all.

As long as peat remains waterlogged, the carbon remains stored indefinitely.

However, when a bog is drained or burned, or the overlaying vegetation becomes eroded – often by trampling or grazing by livestock or deer – the peat becomes exposed to air and dries out.

Rather than functioning as a vast carbon sink, it instead begins to emit its stored carbon back into the atmosphere. This

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Our November members’ talk will be focused on sustainability. Sign up to find out more at nts.org. uk/stay-in-touch

‘Cows will be able to graze and roam over difficult ground, including woodland’

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BELOW Children learning about rewilding at Threave

RIGHT Volunteer Alistair helps the Trust’s David Thompson

is why the restoration of damaged peatland is such an effective naturebased solution to climate change.

Given a landholding that includes 5,000 hectares of woodland and 16,000 hectares of peatland, the Trust is responsible for significant areas of natural capital – and that’s before factoring in the contribution of gardens and designed landscapes around our built heritage properties.

Having previously calculated that our woodland cover stores an estimated 2.4 million tonnes CO2 eq (carbon dioxide equivalent) and our peatland some 27.5 million tonnes of CO2 eq – about a third of the annual greenhouse-gas emissions in Scotland – it’s clear that we also have a key role in helping the country to achieve its world-leading carbon emissions

reduction targets by maintaining and increasing this store.

MAKING GOOD Today, the true value of peatland is recognised, but that was not always the case. In the past, huge areas of this ‘Cinderella’ habitat were drained in an attempt to improve land for grazing. It has also suffered badly from burning, peat extraction for horticulture, fuel and conversion to agriculture.

It is estimated that around 70% of Scotland’s blanket bog and 90% of its lowland raised bog has been damaged to some degree by drainage or trampling. As such, the onus now is on making good again – with the Trust playing an active role in recent years.

To date, attention has focused on Ben Lomond, Ben Lawers and Goatfell on Arran – three sites identified as having the most degraded areas of peatland. Ben Lomond and Goatfell were found to have significant areas of drained peat, while the major problem at Ben Lawers was the presence of vertical banks of exposed peat (known as peat hags) and peat ‘pans’ – football pitch-sized domes of bare peat.

With funding from the Scottish Government’s Peatland Action programme, the Trust devised pilot projects at each site trialling a range of techniques, including the replanting of sphagnum mosses – the building blocks of peatland – and mulching from donor sites as part of the work to block drains, reprofile peat hags and revegetate areas of bare peat.

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BELOW Butterfly on a thistle, Threave Estate

RIGHT Woodland regeneration at Mar Lodge Estate

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But healthy peatland also brings other benefits, such as an incredible biodiversity, and filtering and regulating the flow of water. Raising water levels encourages colonisation not just by sphagnum but also sedges, bog myrtle, sundews and liverworts.

This sets off an ecological chain reaction, with the return of healthy plants attracting insects, which in turn feed birds.

‘Everything links together,’ comments Dan Watson, who oversees peatland restoration projects across the Trust’s estate in his role as natural heritage advisor. ‘I was involved in habitat monitoring at Glencoe recently and the range of colours and species of sphagnum was just beautiful. All around, there were dragonflies, damselflies, a variety of moths, sundews on the edge of pools and rare sedges.

It was a real treat.’

Looking ahead, and with peat resources spanning the country, the focus is now on other locations. Work begins in September on restoring an area of badly degraded peat at Grey Mare’s Tail in the Moffat hills, while opportunities will also be investigated on Unst and Yell in Shetland.

HABITAT MIX At Mar Lodge Estate in the Cairngorms, the focus over the past decade has been on reducing deer numbers to create conditions for woodland regeneration using natural seed sources. Here, Scots pine, birch, juniper, rowan and a profusion of herbs and flowering plants have exploded out of the ground to create a living, breathing landscape that is rich in colour.

With the woodland situation looking much more positive, the Mar Lodge team are now looking at peatland.

Listen�..

Shaila Rao discusses regeneration in our Mar Lodge podcast nts.org.uk/podcasts

‘Rivers will be allowed to do what rivers do: to rise and fall, to breach, flow and create’ Restoration work will soon begin on an area in the western part of the estate where they’ll work to restore bare peat, hags and gullies, with a small part of the area fenced to help tease out what impact deer might have on restoration.

As ever in this line of work, patience is not so much a virtue as a necessity.

‘In five to 10 years it should be quite clear what the difference is,’ says Shaila Rao, conservation manager at Mar Lodge Estate. ‘If deer were an issue, we would see plants and mosses colonise peat within the fenced area, but not in the unfenced area.’

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE Back at Threave in Galloway, Sam Gallacher is quick to point out that there is no such thing as a one-size-fitsall approach to something as complex and unpredictable as landscape

restoration. What works in one location may not work somewhere else.

He is also clear that while the work involves kickstarting ecological processes, it is not a pure ‘rewilding’ project. ‘We are about keeping the human involvement, including aspects of agricultural productivity, and seeing how we can accelerate, benefit and support natural processes,’ he explains.

‘We are unwinding human negative influence and rebuilding human positive influence on a landscape.’

As such, the work here is as much about people as the landscape itself, especially in terms of what can be learned from such a landscape-scale experiment. In time, the ambition is for Threave to become a centre of excellence in landscape restoration, providing visitors, other land managers and of course the Trust with best-practice methods and approaches.

It is bold, challenging and extremely exciting, believes Sam. ‘We have an opportunity here to make a real difference to public discourse and understanding around this kind of project,’ he says.

‘It will be a fantastic experience for our visitors and members to learn about and engage with landscape restoration in action.’

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Jacobite Lord Lovat (Jamie Fraser’s grandfather in Outlander) was sentenced to death and executed on 9 April 1747 at Tower Hill in London. This ornate ticket – an engraving on paper – was for one of the special boxes built to accommodate spectators at the five-day trial at the Palace of Westminster. It’s on display in the Aftermath corridor at Culloden visitor centre. Most visitors don’t spot it, but it illustrates how significant the Jacobite Rising and Culloden were to the whole country.

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HIDDEN SECRETS Scattered across the places in the Trust’s care are an array of unusual objects and intriguing features. How many can you spot on your visits to our historic buildings and countryside areas?

WORDS: ANGELA McMANUS

GREENBANK PILKINGTON JACKSON BRONZE

Sculptor Pilkington Jackson is best known for his statue of Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.

Another of his works, a survivor of the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow, can be seen at Greenbank Garden. ‘Foam was gifted to the garden in the early 1970s. It now stands in a pond and is a favourite spot for many of our visitors,’ says Julie Gilliland at Greenbank.

DUNKELD SIGNS OF BEAVERS

Keep your eyes peeled when you walk along the banks of the River Tay at Dunkeld. ‘It was in 2016 that I first spotted marks on a willow tree at the water’s edge,’ recalls the Trust’s Louise Medine.

‘On closer inspection, I saw gnaw marks on the lower branch and the chew pattern where a beaver had nibbled off a branch. More feeding signs have been seen since.’

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Over the years, people who have visited the Isle of Canna by fishing boat or yacht have left graffiti on the pier wall. One notable visitor was ‘Patrice’.

In August 1954, John Lorne Campbell of Canna House heard that his father had died suddenly.

‘The weather was terrible, and John couldn’t get off the island to reach the mainland,’ explains Fiona Mackenzie, Canna House archivist.

‘There was a boat in the harbour, former RAF rescue launch The Patrice. Its owner Robert Menzies was woken by John tapping on the hull, asking if he would take him to the mainland.

The Menzies family return often to Canna, and they touch up the Patrice graffiti on the pier wall.

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CULROSS EYES IN THE WALLS

When you’re walking around Culross, take a closer look at some of the village houses. ‘Owl holes were placed in buildings to allow predatory birds (mostly barn owls) to enter,’ explains Elaine Longmuir at Culross. ‘The birds preyed on vermin, benefiting the owners of the building, so it’s fair to say it was a good working relationship!’

Head uphill, past the abbey, and you’ll find the House with the Evil Eyes, named after the shape of the windows in the Dutch gable.

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A religious icon in the ante-chapel at Falkland Palace was made from corned-beef tins and bullet casings by Polish soldiers stationed in the village during the Second World War. ‘The icon is a symbol of safety,’ explains Trust curator Antonia Laurence Allen. ‘She is dressed in a floral robe and her hands are crossed in front of her body. She wears a crown, and a halo studded with stars radiates from her head. The banner underneath has inscriptions in English and Polish, asking for protection from “our lady of Ostrobrama” by the Paratroopers of the 3rd Polish Battalion.’

BRODIE CASTLE EGYPTIAN FIGURES

The Morayshire castle hit the headlines in the 1980s when a visitor realised two ancient Egyptian mummy-like figures which had been lying in the north lobby for centuries actually belonged to a period 500 years before the oldest known item in the historic collection. The discovery of the Shabti figurines meant the property’s collection included pre-Christian era antiques.

‘I recently came across old newspapers and in one found an article about the Egyptian figures, objects I’d never given much attention to before,’ says Julie Armour, who is the third generation of her family to have worked at Brodie Castle. ‘The figures pre-date Christ by 360 years, and it reminds me how blessed we are to work in such wonderful properties and look after such fascinating objects.’

For the kids

GEILSTON GARDEN

There are still many exciting opportunities for children to play at Drum Castle, including a brilliant playground tucked away in the woods

MARRIAGE WELL

Out of sight in the East Woodland of Geilston Garden sits a small, beautiful marriage well, built

by Major Joseph Tucker Geils in 1863, to celebrate his marriage to his second wife, Hester Elizabeth Wilson. ‘Five generations of Geils lived and worked at Geilston, with this family occupying the property longer than any other,’ explains the Trust’s Taylah Egbers. ‘The marriage well is one of many hidden secrets waiting to be discovered at Geilston Garden.’

DRUM CASTLE TRACES OF CHILDREN AT PLAY

An intriguing etching of the Irvine family name on a window ledge at Drum Castle is often missed by visitors. It’s thought to be linked to the five boys who grew up at the castle during the First World War. ‘They made the most of their time and used Drum Castle as their own personal playground,’ says Drum Castle’s Constance Schimmeyer.

‘According to one laird, the library was used in a game – they climbed onto the mantelpiece and tried to get around the room without touching the floor. That’s why the mantel is bent!’

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Take a closer look in the library at House of Dun and you’ll find a very special memento of Timekeeper, the favourite horse of the 18th Laird, William Henry Kennedy-Erskine.

‘He was so fond of Timekeeper that when the horse died, William buried him on the estate and had his hooves made into inkwells to remember him by,’ says Laurie Cassells at House of Dun. ‘The inkwell lids are inscribed “My charger Timekeeper by Regulator off a diamond mare Etat 28AD”. And there are paintings in the library of William and Timekeeper together.’

Visitors to the House of Dun Estate can also see Timekeeper’s grave.

Two of the windows at Craigievar Castle look normal from the outside but are mysteriously blocked off inside. One, on the fourth floor, is a fully glazed window behind what looks like a cupboard door.

On the fifth floor, the only clue to the fact there is a hidden window behind a headboard is a pinprick of light, as Craigievar’s John Lemon explains: ‘The story goes that the bedhead is to stop the ghost of “the Gordon boy” from coming back in, after he was caught in the room with one of the daughters of Red Sir John Forbes and forced to flee!’

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PITMEDDEN MUSEUM OF FARMING LIFE

Pitmedden is renowned for its 17th-century French-style gardens, but not all our visitors know about its Museum of Farming Life, which showcases and celebrates agriculture in Scotland. ‘I am leading a team of volunteers this season to refresh and redisplay this collection, and we’re discovering all sorts of treasures tucked away in forgotten cupboards,’ says Pitmedden’s Caitlin Jamison.

‘There is a letter from King George VI bestowing additional titles on Major James Keith, the former owner of Pitmedden Estate, as well as beautiful artworks and objects relating to the history of this place. None of this would have been possible without the hard work of our new collections care volunteers.’

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THE GEORGIAN HOUSE

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All the tasteful trappings of early 19th-century wealth are on show at the Georgian House, but look more closely and they also betray secrets about the reality of everyday life. ‘For all the elegance and grandeur, there was no bathroom in the house and baths were taken infrequently,’ explains Rachel Campbell at the Georgian House.

‘The perfume pan in the drawing room is the perfect reminder of that. A long steel pole with a small bowl on one end, it was used to burn fragrance to mask unpleasant odours.’

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Thank you!

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KILLIECRANKIE

We couldn’t look after these unique and important places and objects without our members, donors and visitors

HIDDEN FACE ON A RAILWAY VIADUCT

Take a wander below the railway viaduct at Killiecrankie and see if you can spot the hidden face on the stonework of the southernmost turret.

‘No one seems to know who he is but we do have a couple of theories,’ says Louise Medine at Killiecrankie.

‘It is likely the face was carved into the stone as a memorial to one of the Victorian stonemasons who may have died while working on the viaduct’s construction.

‘However, there are also rumours it formed suddenly as a ghostly reminder of a Jacobite or Redcoat killed at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689!’

THE HILL HOUSE BLACKIE CHILDREN’S PERFORMANCES

Charles Rennie Mackintosh could never have imagined the enjoyment his designs would give the children of his client, Walter Blackie. In the alcove of a dormer window on the first floor of the Hill House, flanked by seats, the stage was set for childhood theatrics. ‘While this area may also have been used for reading or needlework, the Blackie family told us that they used it as a stage,’ says visitor services supervisor Taylah Egbers. ‘We also have a copy of a “programme” created by the Blackie children for a performance of what they called The Translation of Tatcho.’

DISCOVER MORE HIDDEN SECRETS

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MASTERS OF

DESIGN

Scotland has long punched above its weight in producing architects of international significance. Here, architectural historian Mary Miers considers five of the greatest

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CLIFFTOP MASTERPIECE The supreme expression of Robert Adam’s castle style, Culzean harmonises turrets, Venetian windows, a drum tower and a Romanesque viaduct.

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WILLIAM ADAM (1689-1748)

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ABOVE Adam’s original design for Haddo House was based on the principles devised in the 16th century by Italian architect Andrea Palladio

ARCHITECTS WITH STYLE 1732 Construction of Haddo House begins, designed in the Palladian style

by William Adam

1730-42 House of Dun is built in Montrose

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HADDO HOUSE & HOUSE OF DUN Consider how strange Haddo House must have seemed when it first appeared on the bleak coastal plain of Buchan in 1732.

The contrast between this neoclassical mansion and the neighbouring lairds’ tower houses is vividly conveyed by James Giles’s superb watercolours of Aberdeenshire castles, currently on display at Haddo. William Adam’s bold yet elegant design introduced to the north-east a new form of stately, compactly planned house that had been pioneered in Scotland by Sir William Bruce, and which Adam now reinterpreted for a new generation in the changing social and political climate of the early 18th century.

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he grander houses in the care of the National Trust for Scotland include important works by some of the greatest names in Scottish architecture.

Spanning the Georgian, Victorian, Arts and Crafts and early modern eras, the innovative, daring designs of William and Robert Adam, Alexander Thomson, Sir Robert Lorimer and Charles Rennie Mackintosh challenged the established order, changed perceptions about what was possible in building, and left us with a priceless legacy. Today, your membership and donations help us ensure that these historic homes are preserved for the future and that their stories are shared with current generations and those to come.

A timeline of key developments 1776 Robert Adam starts work on remodelling Culzean Castle

1791 Robert Adam designs the neoclassical façades of Charlotte Square to emulate a Roman palace front

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Adam was by this time the colossus of Scottish architecture. A Fife-born mason’s apprentice, he had travelled to France and the Low Countries before setting up a brick and tile works and marrying the daughter of his partner, a local laird.

Practical knowledge and entrepreneurial flair combined with the learning and social connections of a gentleman to win him prestigious private and civic commissions. An early project, Mavisbank in Midlothian, provided an exquisite Scottish model for a smaller type of country house modelled on the Palladian villa, which the Scots Colen Campbell and James Gibbs had made fashionable in England from 1715. Adam’s interpretation, though, incorporated Baroque richness and influences from the Continent.

At House of Dun in Montrose, Adam revised a scheme by the architect Earl of Mar featuring a triumphal-arch centrepiece. The plan is similar to that at Haddo, but the pièce de résistance is the plaster decoration in the saloon, a testament to Adam’s skill at co-ordinating the work of the finest craftsmen. Joseph Enzer’s magnificent stucco figures, trophies and allegorical scenes have a lavish ebullience that, true to the classical idiom, contrasts dramatically with the exterior.

ROBERT ADAM (1728-92)

CULZEAN CASTLE & THE GEORGIAN HOUSE Of Adam’s three sons who worked in the family business, the second, Robert, was the most promising and ambitious – and the one who would lend the family name to an international style.

The key step in Robert’s career came in 1754, when, aged 26, he set off to France and Italy on the cultural and social adventure known as the Grand Tour. Here, he surveyed Roman and Renaissance buildings while mixing in aristocratic circles and cultivating his reputation as an architect.

Returning to the UK, he invented a radical new style that synthesised Roman grandeur with

1857-58 Holmwood House, designed

by Alexander Thomson, is built in Cathcart, Glasgow, for paper magnate James Couper and his wife

1893 Inspired by his summers at Kellie Castle (right), Sir Robert Lorimer sets up his architectural practice

‘Robert Adam’s radical new style took Georgian society by storm’

ABOVE Joseph Enzer’s stunning interior plasterwork at House of Dun. The Montrose mansion’s courtyard has newly opened as a museum and heritage park

refined elegance – and it took Georgian society by storm. Working with leading craftsmen, he conceived harmonious interiors with furniture and fittings all to his design. Colour was central to the aesthetic, the delicate ornament derived from accurately observed antique detail. The planning, though still formal, became more fluid, the shapes of rooms more inventive, decoration more varied.

Robert Adam’s remodelling of Culzean, begun in 1776 for the 10th Earl of Cassillis, is the supreme expression of his castle style. Monumental on its clifftop above the Firth of Clyde, Culzean evokes the sublime power of nature in a composition that

1902-1904 The Hill House, designed

by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, is built in Helensburgh for Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie

1905-07 Sir Robert Lorimer remodels Hill of Tarvit near Cupar in Fife for jute baron Frederick Sharp

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‘Thomson abstracted Greek forms into dynamic, horizontal compositions of columns and architraves’ integrates romantic massing with rational symmetry. Towers and turrets combine with Venetian windows, while a Romanesque viaduct bridges the dell. The following decade, Adam redesigned the castle’s sea front with a panoramic drum tower containing a circular drawing room, linked by a dramatic top-lit oval stairhall. In contrast to the stark exterior, Culzean’s interiors are elegantly neoclassical.

Adam’s delight in creating movement – ‘the rise and fall, the advance and recess, with other diversity of form… so as to add greatly to the picturesque of the composition’ – is evident in his urban architecture, too, which made such an outstanding contribution to the transformation of Edinburgh into a modern classical city. His culminating masterpiece, designed a year before he died, was Charlotte Square, conceived as the visual climax of the first phase of the New Town.

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ABOVE AND BELOW Holmwood House, whose unique interiors have recently been sensitively restored thanks to funds raised in a public appeal and from the NTS Foundation USA

and later restored number 7 to its former elegance, recreating its Adam-style decoration based on research at Culzean and other houses and furnishing the rooms with loaned or acquired pieces. Opened in 1975, the Georgian House shows how prosperous residents lived at this fashionable address, and we can imagine the rooms brought alive by the family and servants of John Lamont, who bought it in 1796, or Catherine Farquharson of Invercauld, the owner from 1817.

ALEXANDER ‘GREEK’ THOMSON (1817-75)

HOLMWOOD HOUSE By the mid-1850s, classicism had been eclipsed, yet Alexander Thomson distrusted the fashionable Gothic style of the day and developed his own idiosyncratic interpretation of ancient Greek architecture, which he believed was an expression of God-given ‘eternal laws’. Abstracting Greek

forms into dynamic, horizontal compositions of columns, lintels and architraves, he designed highly original and modern churches, terraces, commercial buildings and villas in and around Glasgow. The Greeks were not the only influence on his architectural vision; he also drew inspiration from Ancient Egypt and other sources.

Like Adam, Thomson was interested in Picturesque principles, which he applied to the Greek style in his suburban villas, notably Holmwood at Cathcart. Balanced asymmetry is a feature of these buildings, as are glazed screens of windows freestanding behind stone columns and low-pitched roofs with wide eaves. The long wall connecting Holmwood with its coach house emphasises the horizontality in a manner prescient of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Thomson developed his ideas on interior design here to luxurious effect. Colour was central to the overall scheme, which included stencilled friezes and other stylised Greek motifs, painted decoration, furniture and fittings, all to his design.

After years of use as a convent, the house was saved from insensitive development in 1994 by the Trust, whose conservators uncovered and restored the superb painted decoration, a project that was completed this year.

ABOVE The stone summerhouse in the garden at Kellie Castle was created by the Lorimers in 1900 BELOW Hill of Tarvit near Cupar was remodelled by Lorimer as a modern, airy setting for its owner’s fine collection of ceramics, paintings and furniture

SIR ROBERT LORIMER (1864-1929) KELLIE CASTLE

& HILL OF TARVIT If Adam and Thomson infused the architecture of antiquity

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with their own highly individual responses to Romanticism, Sir Robert Lorimer revived the picturesque forms and textures of Old Scots buildings in a series of romantic houses and restorations inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement.

In 1878, his professor father had leased dilapidated Kellie Castle in Fife and embarked on a faithful repair using local labour and materials.

Kellie was the young Lorimer’s training ground and a huge influence on him becoming an architect. He watched craftsmen restore the 17th-century plasterwork and 18th-century panelling and contributed his own designs derived from these vernacular precedents.

After their father’s death in 1890, Lorimer and his artist brother John (page 10) repaired and reinstated the drawing-room panelling at Kellie and commissioned an over-mantel mural from Phoebe Anna Traquair. Robert also designed textiles and furniture, some now returned to the house, and laid out the Arts and Crafts garden.

Early in Robert Lorimer’s architectural career, a spell in the offices of G. F. Bodley fired his interest in the unity of art and nature in architecture and helped shape his Gothic style. He also developed a distinctive early Georgian manner, as seen at Hill of Tarvit, where he adapted a 1696 house to create a modern, airy home. The innovative plan connects the interior with the outside by opening out the public rooms along the bow-ended garden front onto flights of terraces that descend into leisure grounds, the entrance on the side, approached through a loggia.

Our December members’ talk will be focused on architecture. Sign up to find out more at nts.org.uk/ stay-in-touch

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‘The unique strangeness of Mackintosh’s work is no longer considered bizarre but brilliant’

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The exterior belies the eclecticism of the main rooms, which were designed to complement different parts of the owner’s collection, from the oak-panelled hall displaying Flemish tapestries and Jacobean furniture to the elegant drawing room furnished with French 18th-century pieces. Tarvit was Lorimer’s first holistic project, in which he oversaw the design by his favourite craftsmen of every detail down to the door handles.

Architecture, interiors, contents and gardens remain intact for visitors to enjoy today.

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868-1928)

THE HILL HOUSE The character of old Scottish buildings was interpreted in a very different way

by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whose Hill House introduced bourgeoise Helensburgh to the avant-garde. Since 2019, visitors have been able to view this building from a unique perspective, on high-level walkways built into the chainmail box that is protecting the house from rain to enable conservation work.

At the Hill House, Mackintosh abstracted the picturesque massing and rugged forms of tower houses to create a sculptural geometry that almost suggests Cubism. The interior, by contrast, has an exoticism derived from the rich variety of influences on its all-embracing aesthetic. His aim was

ABOVE The Hill House combines the harled and slated character of a tower house with hints of modernity in its geometrical forms BELOW The house is currently protected by an innovative chainmail box thanks to the generosity of our supporters

to create a practical home as a total work of art and he designed everything, down to the carpets and light fittings.

Mackintosh had studied at the Glasgow School of Art, where he mixed with a talented group of artist-designers, including Margaret Macdonald, whom he married in 1900. They pioneered the so-called Glasgow Style, with its infusion of Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Symbolist, Japanese and Celtic influences. The pair collaborated on the Hill House, where Margaret’s influence can be seen in the gesso panels and embroidered hangings of stylised figures and organic plant forms.

The success of the interior lies in its dynamic juxtapositions of scale, form and palette. Cosy areas lead into large, light-filled rooms; geometric patterns in the furniture, carpets and friezes are seen alongside curving natural motifs; cool whites, pewters and dusky pinks contrast with dark stained timber.

In his final years, Mackintosh moved to France, where he painted some remarkable watercolours.

By now, Beaux Arts Classicism had eclipsed the Glasgow Style and his work was dismissed, precipitating his tragic decline. Since his death, he has become celebrated as a pioneer of modernism, the unique strangeness of his work no longer considered bizarre but brilliant.

Keep up to date with the Hill House project via our emails: nts.org.uk/stay-in-touch

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START Garry Bridge car park, Killiecrankie DISTANCE 3 miles TIME 1 to 1.5 hours DIFFICULTY Easy to moderate – footpaths are uneven and steep in parts

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As the turning seasons shine a new light on our countryside, five Trust experts share tips from their favourite walks

COLOURS WORDS: FIONA RUSSELL

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Falls of Tummel

BIG TREE COUNTRY

Fiery reds, yellows and oranges abound on the Linn of Tummel loop

ALAMY

There are not enough superlatives to do justice to the magnificence of an autumn walk in Perthshire’s famous Big Tree Country.

‘It’s always a spectacular time of year as the trees prepare to shut down for winter,’ says Louise Medine, visitor services supervisor for North Perthshire.

‘Species such as oak, ash, rowan and beech blaze fiery reds, yellows and oranges.’

She recommends a stroll through the woodlands of Linn of Tummel. Steps lead

from the Garry Bridge car park to a path along the River Garry as it meanders calmly downstream to the Falls of Tummel, where it meets the much fasterflowing River Tummel.

Look up to see oaks and Scots pine standing tall over the path and keep an eye out for local wildlife. ‘You may see red squirrels as they forage and cache hazelnuts and acorns for winter,’ says Louise. ‘Otters and pine martens are active throughout the year, and

you’ll hear the squawking call of jays high in the oaks.’

On reaching the breathtaking series of waterfalls that plummet into the Linn, you might be lucky enough to see salmon jumping the cascade as they return to their spawning grounds. Kingfishers can be seen at the falls, too, so look out for their flashes of blue.

The walk passes a small obelisk commemorating Queen Victoria’s 1844 visit as well as an ingenious Edwardian fish pass,

parallel to the falls. Before Coronation Bridge, look for NTS waymarkers that take you on to an upper path to return to Garry Bridge.

For a longer day, start at Killiecrankie visitor centre and follow the riverside path towards the green footbridge, where you can cross the river to join the Linn of Tummel walk.

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Enjoy a circular walk on Mar Lodge Estate

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The glens of Quoich and Lui, with a delightful hidden valley in between, provide a superb landscape for an autumn walk.

This is a favourite outing for Kim Neilson, the ranger at Mar Lodge Estate National Nature Reserve, who says: ‘It is a great place to walk and a good length for people who want to be a bit adventurous but without going too high in the mountains.’

The route climbs through Glen Quoich, where you can detour to Linn of Quoich to see a picturesque waterfall created as the river funnels through a ravine. There is a bridge over the narrowest

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woodland in Glen Quoich is a mix of deciduous and evergreens, especially Scots pines,’ says Kim. ‘In autumn, there is a lovely contrasting display of dark greens and the oranges and yellows of the leaves of birch and willows.

‘Glen Lui has more deciduous trees, including birches, willows and rowans, and these look stunning in autumn.

The grasses also turn a lovely orange, while the

‘It suits people who want to be adventurous without going too high into the hills’ Kim Neilson, ranger

heather is a tapestry of autumn tones.

‘Then in Clais Fhearnaig there are patches of aspen, which are rare still in Scotland but are regenerating here. The leaves are golden and look almost luminous yellow.

There are also willow and unusual dwarf birches. It’s a lovely landscape at this time of the year.’

There is plenty of wildlife to spot on this walk too – golden eagles and red grouse on the moorland and black grouse in the woods. Mallard and teal can often be seen on the lochan at Clais Fhearnaig too.

Lui Water, Mar Lodge Estate

DETAILS

START Linn of Quoich parking area DISTANCE 10 miles TIME 4 to 4.5 hours DIFFICULTY Moderate – clear paths and tracks with around 1,000ft of ascent

ANDREW PAINTING

Our October members’ talk will feature a range of wonderful winter walks.

Sign up to find out more at nts.org.uk/ stay-in-touch

part where you can see the ‘Punch Bowl’ that has been carved out by the water.

Continue into Glen Quoich to eventually reach the narrow cleft of Clais Fhearnaig, where there is a pretty lochan that was once a popular spot for trout fishing. At the end of the pass you’ll reach the track through Glen Lui for the return leg of the route.

You’ll see a wonderful variety of trees on this satisfying walk. ‘The

Look out for black grouse

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START Public car park at Fyvie Castle DISTANCE 1.8 miles TIME 1 to 1.5 hours DIFFICULTY Easy walk on well-made paths

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Loch of Fyvie

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WILDLIFE WANDER Take a stroll through the grounds of Fyvie Castle

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The fabulous grounds of 800-year-old Fyvie Castle brim with flora and fauna.

If you’re looking for an easy-going stroll with plenty to see in autumn, a walk around the shore of the striking 18th-century man-made loch is ideal.

The wider estate also boasts a walled garden, extensive lawns, ornamental drives and woodlands, and, as ranger Roddy Hamilton explains, there is an unusually extended period of autumnal colour in the castle grounds: ‘Because we

have many different species of deciduous trees, such as beech, horse chestnut and willow, the vibrant colours are very long-lasting.’

From the car park, follow a path that leads up steps towards the loch. After a short distance beyond a metal gate, a viewpoint with a convenient seat offers ‘the best view at Fyvie’, according to Roddy. ‘You are still at the northern end of the loch and just before a boathouse, but it’s worth stopping to take it all in.’

If you visit on a calm day,

the flat surface of the long, narrow loch perfectly mirrors the luminous splendour of the woodland.

Continuing the walk and keeping the loch on your right, a good path loops the water. ‘In autumn, come early in the morning to see and hear noisy greylag geese on the loch,’ says Roddy.

‘Other species to look out for all year round are swans, tufted duck and moorhens.’

There’s a healthy red squirrel population here, so sightings are possible as the

creatures go about their foraging for winter stores.

To extend the walk, on returning to the car park, stroll through the estate’s American Garden and up a grand drive in front of the castle. The route passes behind the historic racquets court building and then returns downhill to the start.

Greylag Goose

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Two routes to guide you through the highlights of Crarae Garden

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Set on the banks of Loch Fyne in the Argyll hills, Crarae Garden is an extraordinary Himalayanstyle glen and forest. It was created more than a century ago by Lady Grace Campbell, the aunt of plant hunter Reginald Farrer, who sourced trees and shrubs from China, Nepal and Tibet.

There are five signposted walks criss-crossing the garden, and head gardener Robert Carroll is hard pushed to pick his favourite,

although he eventually chooses two for the best autumnal splendour. He recommends a gentle stroll along the yellow ‘Spirit of the Garden’ route and, for the more adventurous, a hike up the steep steps of the red waymarked ‘Himalayan Gorge’ route.

‘The yellow route is flat and accessible,’ he explains.

‘It passes an ancient graveyard with a burial cairn, and has views of some of the garden’s

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‘The trees form a cascade of the brightest colours of the season’ Robert Carroll, head gardener

amazing southern beeches.

In autumn, the leaves of these very tall trees look as if they’re on fire.’

The red route heads up into a dramatic tree-lined gorge, with the cascading Crarae Burn forming a series of waterfalls. Bridges cross the burn and offer lovely viewpoints.

‘Walk up the gorge, and the leaves of many different trees, including Japanese maple and native species such as hazel, rowan and birch, form a cascade of the brightest colours of the season,’ says Robert.

The display isn’t confined

to the canopy: the shrub layer is just as spectacular.

In autumn, look for Disanthus cercidifolius, a plant with bundles of berries and heart-shaped leaves that turn gorgeous shades of red and purple.

The garden is also home to plentiful wildlife – trout in the burn, roe and sika deer, stoats, weasels and many species of birds, including treecreepers.

‘Crarae Garden is a place to linger during a walk,’ says Robert. ‘It doesn’t matter which route you choose because autumn here is always spectacular.’

Colours of Crarae

DETAILS

START Crarae Garden visitor centre TIME Yellow walk, 30-60 minutes; Red walk, 40-90 minutes DIFFICULTY Yellow walk is wheelchairaccessible; Red walk is rough and steep in places

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DETAILS

START Trust car park, Morvich Farm DISTANCE 11 miles (including return) TIME 8 hours DIFFICULTY Strenuous, walking on mountain paths and a high plateau that requires good navigation skills (note that there is a major burn to cross at NH003213, so choose a dry day and avoid after long periods of rainfall)

Support

Help us care for Scotland’s mountain footpaths, donate at nts.org.uk/ footpath-fund

Beinn Fhada

UP ON THE HIGH TOPS Beinn Fhada lights up in the colours of the season

RULE ANDERSON

Kintail has a special atmosphere in autumn.

The landscape becomes a fabulous patchwork of burnished gold, russet and ochre as the grasses over entire mountain slopes die back. Migrating birds offer an overhead spectacle, while the eerie roars of rutting red stags echo around vast glens.

A walk to the lofty summit of Beinn Fhada is best saved for a fine day, because a bright blue sky offers the perfect backdrop for autumn’s rich hues.

‘The route starts with a blaze of colour, including

bright yellow, orange and crimson, as you pass through two new areas of native woods planted with a mix of deciduous species, including birch, ash, rowan, willow and alder,’ says Trust ranger Rule Anderson.

‘The bright red berries of the rowans provide food for a huge influx of migrating redwings and fieldfares as they make their journey further south for winter.’

An obvious path, maintained by the Trust, continues up through Gleann Choinneachain and follows part of the historic

cross-country droving route from Morvich to Beauly via Glen Affric. You might be lucky enough to spot golden eagles here.

Heading south and more steeply upwards, you’ll reach magnificent Coire an Sgairne. ‘These northern corries often hold rutting red stags during the autumn and provide an excellent amphitheatre for their roars,’ says Rule.

On reaching the ridge leading towards the summit plateau, the built path ends; be careful not to idly follow the most obvious trail

‘The northern corries provide an excellent amphitheatre for the roars of rutting red stags’ Rule Anderson, ranger

south-west as this will eventually lead in the wrong direction. Instead, head south-east on a less defined route that is often wet. The summit of Beinn Fhada is located on a large plateau, with expansive views.

A trig pillar marks the summit at 3,385ft (1,032m).

To return, simply retrace your steps and relish more glorious vistas in the opposite direction.

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A stunning cycle ride inspired by TAM o’ SHANTER connects the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Culzean Country Park WORDS: GORDON CAIRNS PICTURES: DOUGIE CUNNINGHAM

MIND YOUR TAIL! Our author poses on the old Brig o’ Doon, where Tam o’ Shanter’s poor grey mare famously lost her tail. Pictured in the background is the Burns Monument.

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Literary treasures

Turn to page 5 to read about our consortium’s bid to save works by Burns and other literary greats

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am o’ Shanter, the epic tale of a hard-drinking farmer and his hair-raising encounter with a coven of witches at Alloway Auld Kirk, is one of Burns’s best-loved poems. For total immersion, nothing beats retracing Tam’s journey and exploring the places Burns himself knew well. Nowadays, the perfect way to do that is by bike.

From the old market town of Ayr via the bard’s birthplace in Alloway to the seaside village of Maidens and back, cyclists can stop off at some wonderful Trust properties on a 25-mile ride through the epic poem. It’s a chance to experience the route that Tam took – but at a steady pace and in broad daylight, thankfully, with little risk of being pursued by witches.

AYR TO ALLOWAY Famously a lover of nature, Burns would surely approve of an excursion that can be undertaken using 50 � AUTUMN & WINTER 2021

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TOP Burns Cottage, where young Robert grew up

ABOVE There is cycle parking at the museum

sustainable transport from start to finish, thanks to Ayr’s great rail links with the rest of the country. Exiting the station, simply head away from the centre a couple of miles south through broad tree-lined streets, alongside the

golf courses, to the picturesque village of Alloway.

The first connection to Burns is the cottage he was born in and where he lived until the age of seven. This remarkable homestead, preserved by the Trust, still has a thatched roof and whitewashed walls, and backs onto the main street, perfectly integrating into the modern world. It was here that Burns first heard local folktales from

ON THE ROAD Cycling the Tam o’ Shanter route The route will take at least two hours, plus stops, for fit and experienced cyclists.

For a shorter day, you can cycle from Ayr to Alloway and back on wide, comfortably flat roads with room for cars to overtake.

Allow plenty of time on the coastal route from Alloway to Maidens. The road is steep, so be prepared to jump off

and push. Don’t attempt this run unless you’re in good general health.

The coastal village of Dunure is halfway between Ayr and Maidens. It’s an ideal stop-off point and has a welcoming cafe.

All Scotrail trains provide space for bikes, and the Glasgow-Ayr and Girvan-Ayr lines don’t require cyclists to book in advance.

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Burns Night

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Join us for the wonderful Burns Big Night In 2022.

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‘Famously a lover of nature, Burns would surely approve of an excursion that can be undertaken using sustainable transport’

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Betty Davidson, an older relative who helped in the cottage.

AULD KIRK AND MUSEUM Across the main road from the cottage is Poet’s Path, a pleasant route to pedal past a series of sculptures based on Burns’s work, including a sequence of cast-iron weathervanes funded by the Friends of Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, which tell the story of Tam’s terrifying journey on his horse, Meg The angular modern building of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum sits at the opposite end of the path, providing the thrilling opportunity to see an original manuscript of Tam o’ Shanter among its many exhibits.

For cyclists, the cafe here at the museum is equally alluring. Whereas Tam was driven by the twin demons of alcohol and lust, modern-day cycling pilgrims follow the trail of excellent coffee and cake, necessary fuel before tackling the ‘lang Scots miles’, continuing at the old kirkyard. The ruined walls are

ABOVE ‘Twa Dogs’ on the Poet’s Path, donated by NTS Foundation USA

BELOW Striking weathervanes on the Poet’s Path tell Tam’s story

surrounded by dark gravestones and, while it might not strike terror into the heart on a daytime cycle, on a winter’s night this would certainly be an eerie place, especially for those familiar with the poem and its descriptions of corpses in open coffins holding candles and the devil, in the form of a dog, playing the bagpipes.

From here, the distance covered in the most famous chase scene in Scottish literature is remarkably short,

about a minute by bike. By contrast, the medieval Brig o’ Doon, arching high over the rushing river, is impressive in scale. It no longer leads anywhere, but it is just about possible to cycle up its steep gradient and across the keystone – the central support stone across which, legendarily, dark forces cannot cross – giving the rider a taste of what poor Meg must have undertaken to escape the coven of flying witches.

AROUND THE COAST Burns structured his verses to be read at varying pace, trotting through the bustle of a busy market, cantering down the dark roads, then speeding up to a gallop when our hero is chased by the witches.

Pedalling along the coastline of what was then known as ‘Carrick’, you might fall into a similarly varied rhythm as you tackle the terrain. On your right is the Firth of Clyde and Isle of Arran. On your left, rolling green farmland.

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CYCLE TRIPS

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EXPLORE OUR PLACES BY BIKE MORE IDEAS FOR GREAT DAYS OUT

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NEWHAILES A bike ride to Newhailes House and Gardens is a great option with older kids and teenagers. The journey is around 6 miles from Edinburgh to Newhailes, where there are racks to lock up your bike as well as trails to explore. The estate and cafe are open all year round, and the house is open for pre-booked tours until 31 October.

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CULLODEN National Cycle Network Routes 1 and 7 both pass Culloden, where there are bike racks for you to park up to explore the historic battlefield and visitor centre.

CULROSS The picturesque historic village of Culross is on the National Cycle Route 76, which also connects to Alloa, where you can visit the largest surviving keep in Scotland, Alloa Tower.

BEN LAWERS National Cycle Route 7 passes Killin. There are bike parking facilities at nearby Moirlanich Longhouse, while a steep cycle climb on the north side of Loch Tay will bring you to Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve, where you can lock up your bike while you head onto the hills.

BRODICK CASTLE Bring your bike onto the ferry from Ardrossan.

The castle estate is a short pedal away from the ferry terminal. A full bike circult of the island is a challenging 55 miles.

HILL OF TARVIT A 2- to 3-mile cycle ride from Cupar via Ceres, the Hill of Tarvit Mansion’s estate has bike parking in its main car park. There are many paths and different terrains to explore in the grounds all year round.

‘At Culzean Castle’s Home Farm Kitchen you can enjoy a last break for sustenance’ ABOVE Culzean Country Park provides an opportunity for a break on the return leg BELOW The coastal path makes for a lovely bike ride

boat, the Tam o’ Shanter, from Douglas Graham of Shanter farm in Maidens.

They got into trouble on the water and had to spend the night with Graham’s wife, while her husband was drinking in Ayr with cobbler John Davidson, the inspiration for ‘Souter Johnnie’.

Before reaching Maidens, make a short detour to Kirkoswald for Souter Johnnie’s Cottage, built in 1785 by the shoemaker himself, and preserved by the Trust. Even seen solely from the outside, it gives a snapshot of the 18th-century life of Burns and his circle.

Nothing remains in Maidens of Shanter farm, but there’s one final stop worth making on your journey home.

Cycling to the north of Maidens takes you to Culzean Country Park. The castle was being completed as Tam o’ Shanter was published in 1791 and we can imagine the people who worked there must have been among the ‘honest men and bonnie lasses’ in the poem.

At Culzean Castle’s Home Farm Kitchen you can enjoy a last break for sustenance. Maybole station is only a few miles further on, bringing your journey to an end and taking you back to the 21st century.

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S T H G I L N M AUTU

Bring the family to see Brodie Castle in a whole new light this autumn as our spectacular show, Brodie Illuminated, returns for a second year, supported by Event Scotland. The illuminations are focused on the grounds, highlighting features that might go unnoticed during the day.

Visitors follow pathways through the plants and shrubbery, and the castle walls are also lit up in dazzling colour,

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making this a truly magical and memorable experience.

There’s a longer route planned for 2021 to take in the varied shapes and sizes of the foliage in the grounds.

Finish your tour with a warming hot chocolate from the castle cafe.

Wednesday to Saturday, 30 October to 28 November.

To book, visit nts.org.uk/brodie

MARC HINDLEY, PATRICIA ROBERTS, PETER ROBERTS

The nights are getting brighter!

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Willis organ in the chapel at Haddo

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Join us for the 10th anniversary event

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The Bach Players will open the Haddo Arts Festival on 9 October, with a packed programme of theatre, visual arts and music running until 17 October.

The theme this year is light, as we emerge from the darkness of the pandemic with a deeper understanding of the importance of community.

The festival, run by Haddo Arts and the Trust, will be available to view online, with some events filmed at Haddo in July.

Lighting and photography will illuminate Haddo House and there will be an art trail by photographer Kim McPherson in the Country Park and an exhibition of paintings by the award-winning Sarah Calder at the Pheasantry.

Other highlights include an operatic celebration of creativity featuring local children and young musicians. haddoarts.com

TEA FOR TWO?

Enjoy a Sunday treat at Glasgow’s Pollok House New for this year, we are offering decadent afternoon teas every Sunday at Pollok House in Glasgow.

Come along to our beautiful Edwardian dining room and enjoy a selection of freshly made sandwiches, savouries and sweet treats, as well as the famous Pollok House scones.

Your afternoon will also include a visit to the house where you can immerse yourself in the grand surroundings and admire

CHRISTMAS WITH THE TRUST Enjoy special festive events Get a taste of a Hill House Christmas with our special festive events. On Saturday 4 December, Lavender & Rose Events will host a wreath-making workshop, then you can try your hand at gesso art on Saturday 18 December.

Excitingly, Santa himself will be making an appearance on Sunday 12 and 19 December!

Keep an eye on our website as the festive season approaches for details of our special Christmas events at Trust places across Scotland and online. nts.org.uk

Afternoon tea at Pollok House

Learn to make a wreath at the Hill House

the art, furniture and ceramics, as well as visiting the fascinating servants’ quarters.

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Kate Stephenson (right) spoke at our Gladstone’s Land members’ talk

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Check out our videos, podcasts and exclusive member talks

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ur ‘At Home with the Trust’ series of members’ talks continues this autumn, with talks on architecture, winter walks and environmental sustainability. Keep an eye on your member emails for details (sign up at nts.org.uk/stay-in-touch).

If you miss any of the talks, they can be watched again via the members’

area of the website. Recent highlights have included tours of the replanting project at Pitmedden Garden, a very lively talk with the team at Gladstone’s Land, and a glimpse behind the scenes at the House of Dun visitor experience.

Also on our website, you’ll find our 90th anniversary video, sharing stories of the National Trust for Scotland’s

achievements over the past nine decades. And for those who prefer to kick back and relax with audio, our latest podcasts include a talk on forest restoration in the Cairngorms with Mar Lodge Estate ecologist Shaila Rao. nts.org.uk/podcasts nts.org.uk/members-area

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Make a ‘batty bookmark’

AUTUMN ADVENTURES Included alongside your magazine is the latest edition of the Lidl Book of Big Adventures, the children’s activity booklet produced by the Trust and Lidl.

Among the highlights of the autumn issue are a very cute ‘batty

bookmark’ and children’s guides to wildlife and wild places in the care of the Trust.

Youngsters can pick up stickers to complete their booklet at selected Trust places. nts.org.uk/lidl

After the phenomenal success of last year’s Burns Big Night In, we are delighted to be holding this very special event again this winter.

The date to note in your diaries is Saturday 22 January 2022, when we’ll once again be showcasing Scottish performing arts talent and bringing the traditional Burns Supper to life. Our host will be broadcaster Edith Bowman, who also hosted last year’s event.

DEREK MCCABE

JOIN US IN A TOAST TO BURNS

Edith Bowman

All profits raised from the Burns Big Night In go towards our conservation work, including caring for Burns Cottage and the world’s biggest collection of Burns artefacts.

To make sure you don’t miss out on tickets, sign up to our newsletter via the link below. nts.org.uk/stay-in-touch AUTUMN & WINTER 2021 � 61

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Trust member Judith Tocher explains why she joined our Founders’ Circle

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Judith Tocher smiles when she says her love of Scotland’s heritage is firmly rooted in her DNA. Growing up in Aberdeen, she has fond memories of day trips with her parents. ‘I have always really enjoyed visiting old castles. We’re fortunate in the north-east to have so many great places close by: Haddo, Crathes, Craigievar and Mar Lodge Estate.

‘Even as a kid, I wanted to find out more about the stories behind places. As I grew up, that became more about how history shapes and influences things, now and in the future.’

Judith and her husband are lifetime members of the Trust and have pledged a legacy in their Wills. In recent years she has been volunteering as a guide at the Georgian House and Castle Fraser, and early in 2020 she became a member of the Trust’s Founders’ Circle, a group which gives supporters the opportunity to deepen their engagement with our places and people.

Founders’ Circle members get the chance to meet like-minded supporters while making a difference to our work. They are offered a look behind the scenes at the Trust to learn more about why and how we care for

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Scotland’s heritage, at the same time gaining a deeper insight into our conservation work and expertise. There are e-updates and exclusive lectures as well as donor-focused receptions.

It was at a Founders’ Circle talk that Judith learned more about the Facing Our Past project and decided to get involved. She has since been doing volunteer research work with project leader Dr Jennifer Melville.

‘My background is legal and commercial management and I have been able to utilise my legal knowledge when digging into documents – Wills and Trusts from the 1700s and 1800s and their beneficiaries – to discover what happened to properties such as West Indies plantations worked by enslaved people,’ she explains. ‘I was delighted to turn my research at Malleny Garden into an article for the Trust’s website.’

Judith enjoys seeing familiar faces at Founders’ Circle events, not just from Scotland but from all over the UK and across the Atlantic. ‘The greater engagement it gives you with the Trust, members of staff and the leadership has been really insightful. You find out more about the work of the Trust as well as the people who are doing the work.’

BELOW Judith volunteers at Castle Fraser

Read Judith’s piece on Malleny Garden at nts.org.uk/facing-our-past

GET INVOLVED

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The Founders’ Circle is open to those who have donated £1,000 to the Trust in any one year. Find out more at nts.org.uk/ founders-circle

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SPACE TO GROW The Evolution garden (left) at Crathes is filling up with plants

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THE HARD WORK S TA R TS H E R E AUTUMN BRINGS MUCH TO DO, AND MUCH TO SEE, SAYS CRATHES HEAD GARDENER JAMES HANNAFORD

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ummer is over but, as every gardener knows, there is no such thing as an off-season – managing a garden is a year-round task.

Planning for next year’s half-hardy displays is already under way; cuttings are being taken, decisions are being made about which tender plants to bring in for next year, and we’re working out which seeds and bulbs to order.

Here at Crathes Castle and around the estate, we’re planning too for annual-splitting and dividing herbaceous plants in order to keep the displays defined and refreshed for next summer. Pruning is a priority, whether that’s routine tidying-up of buddleias or more judicious pruning of ornamental trees. The ancient yew hedges in our walled garden have been clipped, along

with the many beech and conifer We’re starting on the rose garden this hedges around the estate. year, supported by generous donors You’ll see lots of colour here during Professor Ian Young and his wife Sylvia, autumn and winter: the extensive completely redesigning the area and half-hardy displays run through to the incorporating new elements. We’ll be first frosts – salvias, argyranthemums, growing a wide variety of plant types cosmos, nicotiana and succulents. here, with lots of different There’s colour too from the colours, scents and shapes to beautiful fruits, flowers delight all the senses. and foliage of our The Evolution garden For expert advice and unusual tree and shrub is new – it’s one of our Scottish seeds to plant collections: hydrangeas, recently completed at home, check out our euonymus, sorbus, projects, and is in a very gardening subscription cercidiphyllum, berberis tranquil spot. It was at nts.org.uk/roots and much more can be designed and built found in the walled garden in-house using locally and across the estate. sourced materials, and tells Over the last few years, we have the story of plant evolution. been working on several landscaping We have also restored the original projects to complement the plantings. concrete dipping tank, a feature dating from the 1920s, fed by natural spring water from the garden. We’ll be growing an exciting range of new plants within it, and it’s hoped the water will be utilised in the future for a bigger water-capture project.

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‘There’s colour from the beautiful fruits, flowers and foliage of our trees and shrubs’

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Help support the National Trust for Scotland by treating your friends and family to cards and gifts from our online shop

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SHARE YOUR LOVE OF SCOTLAND

Our online shop supports Scottish businesses – whisky distillers, weavers, jewellers and more – with many of the products designed exclusively for the Trust.

In turn, shopping with the Trust allows you to contribute to caring for Scotland’s heritage, as all profits will go towards our conservation work. nts.org.uk/shop

£200 LUXURY SCOTTISH HAMPER Stuffed full of tasty treats and indulgent goodies, this chic hamper set contains a rich and varied selection of Scottish cheeses, oatcakes and chutneys, luxury chocolates, delicious gin, wines, ales and prosecco, along with a festive Christmas cake and mince pies. It also includes four tickets to Trust properties, worth up to £80,* so the lucky recipient can start planning some unforgettable days out in the New Year.

Buy a gift membership to the National Trust for Scotland online and send the welcome pack direct to your loved one this Christmas. nts.org.uk/join

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*Maximum value of passes depending on site visited

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ive your loved ones a present that’s extra special by selecting from our fantastic range of cards and presents inspired by Scotland and the amazing places cared for by the Trust.

We’ve brought together a unique selection of thoughtful gifts, including stylish accessories, toys and luxury hampers, that you can buy for family and friends – or even for yourself!

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PINEWOOD GIN GIFT BOX £50

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Treat someone to a bottle of our unique Pinewood Conservation Gin, distilled in Scotland from botanicals foraged directly from Mar Lodge Estate. We have paired it with Walter Gregor’s Scottish Tonic Water, as well as mini cheese twists and indulgent chocolates.

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EXCLUSIVE SPIRITS ART

Keep yourself and your loved ones warm this winter with our selection of specialist spirits, each inspired by places in our care, including Pinewood Gin (£32), Culloden Highland Single Malt (£60), Inverewe Garden Scottish Blend (£50) and Culzean Castle Single Malt (£55).

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CHRISTMAS HAMPER £50 Get into the festive spirit with this beautifully assembled collection of Christmassy treats.

Inside, you’ll find a range of seasonal goodies including some very special chocolates, a rich and fruity Christmas pudding, chocolate-and-orange shortbread, seasoned nuts and a selection of Scottish chutneys and preserves.

SCOTTISH GIFT BOX HAMPER £40 From all-butter shortbread made on Deeside, to Dundee fruitcake and Arran pear-and-plum chutney, the Scottish Gift Box will give the recipient a tasty tour of the nation. It also includes moreish tablet, Capital Crisps from Edinburgh, chocolates and Perthshire oatcakes.

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GIF T A TASTE OF

xes Hampers and gift bo er y are available for deliv er y from 1 November. Ev hamper comes with ission complimentary adm . tickets to Trust places

GIFTS TO MAKE THEM FEEL SPECIAL Support the work of the National Trust for Scotland by selecting from our exclusive range of carefully curated gifts. Every penny of profit goes towards our work caring for Scotland’s heritage

HARRIS TWEED BAGS Available in a variety of sizes and styles, these Harris Tweed bags have been crafted by Barrhead Leather, a family-owned business dating back seven generations.

These timeless staples are all handmade using recyclable materials and ethically sourced leather.

They cost £95 for a cross-body

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STERLING SILVER JEWELLERY

bag, £110 for a handbag, and £120 for a large shoulder bag.

Invite a loved one to keep Scotland close with our selection of stunning sterling silver jewellery by Hannah Louise Lamb that reflects the Scottish coastline. Our range includes bangles, rings, cufflinks, necklaces and keyrings. Prices start at £110.

We also have a gorgeous range

of skincare and grooming gifts from Ochils-based Siabann, including the Bearr Man range and Siabann soap bars, skin candles, shampoo bars and lip balms.

These natural handmade skincare products are inspired by the Scottish countryside and cost from £6 to £17.50. nts.org.uk/shop

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CHRISTMAS GIVING VERSION REPRO OP SUBS ART

NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND CALENDAR The National Trust for Scotland 2022 calendar (£8) features gorgeous images from 12 of the incredible places in our care, including Glencoe, Culloden, Brodick Castle and Falkland Palace.

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Fill stockings with style

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E MOR S IDEA E! IN ONL

Discover a diverse array of small treasures and treats for adults and children alike at nts.org.uk/shop

PLANTABLE CALENDAR Give the gift of green fingers with a Plantable Seed Paper Calendar (£25), created by Little Green Paper Shop. Each page is infused with a different seed type to plant as the month ends.

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HARRIS TWEED Crafted in Scotland from beautiful Harris Tweed and leather tanned using traditional methods passed down the generations, this purse (£16), glasses case (£30) and hip flask (£32) will add style to your stockings.

FINGERLESS GLOVES Designed for the Trust by Green Grove Weavers in Morayshire, our range of colourful fingerless mittens (£24), made from superfine lambswool, will keep your hands warm this winter.

CUDDLY COMPANIONS Give the wee ones in your life an adorable pal. Brodie the Bunny is exclusive to the Trust, while the cute Highland Cow, new this year, is made from recycled plastic bottles (both £10).

VERY SPECIAL

SEASON’S GREETINGS Shop our full range of cards at nts.org.uk/shop

We have a wonderful and diverse selection of Christmas cards for this year. Even better, there’s no plastic packaging or glitter, so they can be fully recycled.

PLANTABLE CARDS

All profits help fund our important work.

A card that’s also a gift. These are printed on bloom paper – after Christmas, simply soak and plant for a floral display. £12 for a pack of 4 cards of one design

PRINTED AT THE TRUST These exclusive cards have been designed and printed at Robert Smail’s Printing Works. £6 for a pack of 5 cards of one design

PREMIUM CARDS £6 per pack of 8 cards of one design

STANDARD CARDS £5 per pack of 10 cards of one design

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MEET OUR EXPERTS VERSION REPRO OP

THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND Hermiston Quay, 5 Cultins Road Edinburgh EH11 4DF Website www.nts.org.uk MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES Telephone 0131 385 7490

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Patron HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay KG KT GCB OM Chairman Sir Mark Jones Chief Executive Phil Long OBE The National Trust for Scotland is a charity, independent of government, supported by legacies, donations and member subscriptions.

Scottish Charity Number SC 007410

ART

Furniture and precious objects at Falkland Palace

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CARING FOR OUR COLLECTIONS

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Conservation advisor Lesley Scott reveals the efforts that go into preserving the amazing objects in our care Going round museums when I was young, collection and what their money is being spent on.

I was always intrigued by the objects on I’m working on a strategy for managing display. I’d look at things in showcases and relative humidity in our properties. think, ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely to get to work It’s part of a focus on sustainable behind the glass?’ practices as we work towards I’ve now been working in tackling the environmental heritage conservation for crisis and reducing our carbon 30 years. As one of three footprint, while improving the regional conservators for the health of our buildings.

Trust, I advise properties in I’m supported by an intern, my area (from Cupar to the a partnership with the Institute Borders) on day-to-day At Kellie Castle of Conservation funded preventative conservation, such as monitoring the by the Trust through the Bute temperature, relative humidity and light Memorial Fund. I feel this is my chance as levels, and managing pests. We aim to an accredited conservator to give slow down the rate at which our something back, passing on knowledge collections deteriorate, while preventing and supporting the next generation of moths or woodworm eating them. conservators. Interns are recently I enjoy talking to visitors and explaining qualified, and this is a stepping stone into what we’re doing. It’s important to show the working world and a great opportunity people what it takes to look after a to gain experience.

NTS Magazine Editor Emily Rodway nts.editor@thinkpublishing.co.uk Sub Editor Judy Diamond Art Director John Pender Assistant Editor Angela McManus Editorial Assistant Jennifer Constable Advertising Manager Sonal Mistry sonal.mistry@ thinkpublishing.co.uk 020 3771 7247 Senior Sales Executive Elizabeth Courtney elizabeth.courtney@ thinkpublishing.co.uk 020 3771 7208 Executive Director John Innes john.innes@ thinkpublishing.co.uk The National Trust for Scotland’s member magazine is published three times a year by Think, on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland. www.thinkpublishing.co.uk Printed in the UK by Walstead Roche. © The National Trust for Scotland 2021 ISSN 2631-3170 Cover image: Mike Bolam All other photography © The National Trust for Scotland unless otherwise stated.

The National Trust for Scotland takes no responsibility for advertisements within the magazine. No unsolicited manuscripts please.

If you no longer wish to receive this magazine please contact our Customer Services team by telephone on 0131 385 7490 or by post to National Trust for Scotland, Customer Services, Hermiston Quay, 5 Cultins Road, Edinburgh EH11 4DF.

PEFC/16-33-1488

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