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COLLEGE VALLEY – NORTHUMBERLAND
On the very edge of the Northumberland National Park lies a lost world shaped by a hidden history. This is College Valley and it’s officially the quietest place in England. Only twelve cars are allowed into the valley a day, helping to preserve the tranquillity of this beautiful place. But this peace hides a darker truth. College Valley is true borderland and, from the 12th to the 17th Century, it was a war zone; the Northumbrian equivalent of the Wild West. Conflict between the Scots and the English was commonplace but it was the warring of local factions, and raiding parties known as the Border Rievers, that made College Valley such a dangerous place. This is a wilderness created by unrest but now preserved by nature. A quiet and secret place.
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THE ANTONINE WALL – near FALKIRK
Hadrian’s Wall is world famous. But, of the nine million people who visit it every year, few realise that it’s not the only Roman wall in Britain. One hundred miles further North is the Antonine Wall. This two thousand year old piece of history sits almost unseen in modern Scotland. This was once the Northernmost frontier of the Roman empire, crossing the narrowest part of the British mainland from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. Built by Emperor Antoninus as an act of symbolic triumph, the wall covered a distance of 39,726 Roman paces or just over 36 miles long. Today the wall is almost invisible but, at Falkirk, in central Scotland, it breaks through the surface in all its glory. A monument to a forgotten past.
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DUNMORE PINEAPPLE – near DUNMORE
You expect castles and fortifications in Scotland but, near Dunmore, is a rather more unexpected architectural treat. Towering above a walled garden is a giant stone pineapple. This crowning glory of a summerhouse, designed and built by John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore, once sat a top a set of glasshouses designed to grow the fruit. It’s a reminder that in the 1700’s pineapples were significant status symbols. To grow one cost around the price of a new coach and took years of hard work. Murray’s pineapple was a bold and eccentric statement, now it’s a secret slice of exotica in the heart of Scotland.
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LOCH ETIVE near OBAN
Loch Etive is a nineteen mile long sea loch just North of Oban. It meets the coast at Dunstaffinage castle, the waters boiling and surging over a sill known as the Falls of Lora. The loch then snakes inland with mountains towering above. This is the closest thing we have to a fjord; a long, narrow and deep arm of the sea. Etive is now a quiet backwater but it hides a secret in its past. This peaceful loch was once the gateway to the Highlands. A paddle steamer ferried Victorian tourists from the coast to the end of the loch where they boarded waiting carriages. From here they took the road directly to the honeypot of Highland tourism – Glen Coe.
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THE HIDDEN VALLEY – GLEN COE
Glen Coe is famous, not only for its stunning natural beauty, but also for its bloody history. The tales of clan warfare and the massacre of the MacDonalds in 1692 once drew the Victorians here and still captivate visitors today. But few realise that deep within the Glen is a forgotten part of this story. On the cold February night when the Campbells and the Government troops attacked, some of the Macdonalds fled south into the mountains known as the Three Sisters. They began to climb towards a secret place with many names; the hanging valley, the lost valley, the valley of capture. It’s also known most appropriately as the hidden valley and it’s difficult to find even today. Concealed behind a wall of rocks, the flat and sheltered valley floor was a safe haven and a refuge from the enemy.
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CORROUR – WEST HIGHLAND LINE
Corrour is the highest and most remote railway station in Britain. Many pass through here on trains heading further North, but few ever get off at this tiny little stop. Corrour sits at the heart of Rannoch Moor. There are no roads here, no houses, only a vast boggy wilderness and a railway line. This extraordinary feat of engineering opened in 1894 to service the Victorian tourists desperate to jump on the tartan bandwagon. This little station is an opportunity, a gateway to a landscape just waiting to be explored.
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NORTH UIST – OUTER HEBRIDIES
The shell sand beaches and turquoise seas make the Outer Hebrides look almost Caribbean in the sunshine but these shores hold a strange and unique secret - one only found in this particular corner of the British Isles. Caught between land and sea is the machair (pronounced ‘mach-er’), a sandy, peaty habitat that bursts into life every spring and summer. Wildflowers seem to grow right out of the beach. It’s a sanctuary for birds like the corncrake, which have been pushed to the brink of extinction elsewhere in the UK.
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CORRIESHALLOCH GORGE AND THE FALLS OF MEASACH near ULLAPOOL
Head into Corrieshalloch Gorge and you head back in time. Just South of Ullapool this ancient Scottish landscape reveals itself in all its geological glory. Three hundred feet deep and almost a mile long, this incredible gorge is a box canyon with sheer cliffs clothed in damp greenery. The Falls of Measach thunder below. The plants here thrive in the damp and dark conditions, the lush ferns giving a glimpse of a more primordial world.
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CAPE WRATH near DURNESS, SUTHERLAND
Cape Wrath is the most North Westerly point on the British mainland. This is the most sparsely inhabited part of the UK and you can see why. The Cape covers 25,000 acres of wind lashed rock, moor and sea, a wet desert without trees or shelter. This great wilderness is closer to the Arctic Circle than it is to London and life here is not only a battle with the elements. The Cape is also one of the most important live firing ranges in Europe for the armed forces. Remote, deserted and hard to get to, the stunning sands of Kervaig beach are a reward for all the intrepid travellers who make it this far.
It’s important to plan a visit to Cape Wrath carefully. Visitors should consult both the MoD’s website and the bylaws to check on range activity. Range warning signs should be obeyed at all times. Transport on and off the Cape, the weather conditions and suitable equipment should also be taken into consideration.
Credits
- Series Producer
- Sarah Gibbs
- Presenter
- Matt Baker
- Presenter
- Julia Bradbury
- Executive Producer
- William Lyons
