Scotland’s Crown Jewels

ese are the landscapes, the places, the experiences that epitomise Scotland. Add any of these to your Scottish adventure and your group will be as Caledonian as a haggis supper and buttered rowie on Union Street of a Saturday night.

visit in itself. Contrast that with Georgian Edinburgh, the World Heritage New Town, and the Castle of course. Yet, in ancient Stirling, there’s a castle of equal drama - and you’re so much nearer to Gleneagles too. Perth (see above) is the fair maiden city and as affluent as ever, home and near neighbour to Scone Palace and the world famous Game Fair. Britain’s most northerly horse race course is in the grounds. www scone-palace co uk/

Crown Je wel Landscape s

ink Scotland, think Highlands. Classically, the journey from Perth to Inverness. From the Gateway to the Highlands, all the way to the Capital of the Highlands. Be that by the A9 road or the Highland Main Line (the clue is in the title), you can’t help but spot the evergrowing mountains. Look out for snow up there - even in Summertime. Global warming notwithstanding, it’s been there since Bonnie Prince Charlie fled the Redcoats in 1746.

Other Highland experiences are available. A half-hour commuter train ride from central Glasgow has you in Balloch or Milngavie (“Mull-Guy”) on the shores of Loch Lomond and geographically north of the Highland Line. George Square to the Highlands in less than thirty minutes, and on an off-peak day return too.

Explore the Scottish Borders for a landscape as dramatic, but you’ll be back across in England in time for tea, you southern soies.

Crown Je wel Place s

So, by global standards, Scotland’s cities are mere towns, in the main. All the better for you and your posse, who can get around the sights as quickly as a timorous wee beastie, and not worry about the shoe leather either. Yet, with modest size comes the advantage of almost instant karma, as you can be in the Scottish countryside in a matter of minutes (well, more than a few minutes if you try to exit Edinburgh or Glasgow at 4pm on a weekday - you have been warned).

Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Gallery and Park, (ww w.visitscotland.com/info /see-do/kelvingrove-artgaller y-and-museum) on the edge of the West End - is a

Dundee - by the silver y Tay, with t he ico nic Victoria & Albe rt Museum on the shore www nts org uk/visit/ places/j-m-barries-birthplace www vam ac uk

ese streets were once the Discovery of Robert Falcon Captain Scott of the Antarctic. His ship is still here and a major attraction. As if to prove that epithet of nearness, less than thirty minutes north into the Angus countryside, and you’ll dine on a Forfar Bridie, or spirit away on a fairytale with Peter Pan in the picture-book surroundings of Kirriemuir, birthplace of JM Barrie.

Aberdeen, the Granite City, built on mineral wealth and