Undiscovered Scotland
UndisScot@mastodon.scot
<p>Undiscovered Scotland is a combination of visitor guide, accommodation listing and business directory which aims to show you what the country is really like.</p>
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The remains of the intriguing circular church at Orphir on Orkney's West Mainland. The church of St Nicholas was built in about 1123 and is thought to have been modelled on the rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/westmainland/orphirchurch/index.html #Scotland #Orkney
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Engineering as a beautiful work of art. This is the Kylesku Bridge on the west coast of Sutherland, seen in summer and in winter. The bridge replaced the Kylesku Ferry - or a 100-mile detour via Lairg - when it opened in 1984. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kylesku/kylesku/index.html #Scotland #Sutherland
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Inside the main hall of architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh's superb Hill House in Helensburgh. Completed late in 1903, it is widely believed to be one of the finest private houses built anywhere in the world in the 20th Century. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/helensburgh/hillhouse/index.html #Scotland #Helensburgh
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269 years ago today. Thomas Telford, the civil engineer whose works transformed Scotland and had a huge impact elsewhere, was born near Westerkirk in Dumfries-shire on 9 August 1757. This is his bridge at Craigellachie in Moray. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/t/thomastelford.html #Scotland #Moray
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Tranquil Deer Abbey in Aberdeenshire, founded in 1219. It was at a nearby predecessor monastery that the "Book of Deer" (or Deir) was written some time in the 900s, containing the earliest written Scottish Gaelic yet discovered. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/deer/deerabbey/index.html #Scotland #Aberdeenshire
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The towering Old Man of Hoy, with people on the cliff adding scale. The Old Man is barely part of Hoy, the second largest of Orkney’s islands at about 10 by 5 miles. Hoy’s name fittingly comes from the Old Norse for 'High Island'. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hoy/hoy/index.html #Scotland #Hoy #Orkney
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A view of from its harbour of Lochinver on the west coast of Sutherland, with the summits of Quinag visible in the distance. Lochinver is a busy port and the largest settlement on the west coast of Scotland north of Ullapool. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lochinver/lochinver/index.html #Scotland #Lochinver
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92 years ago today. German rocket scientist Gerhard Zucker failed to send mail by rocket from Huisinis, Harris, to the island of Scarp on 28 July 1934. The rocket exploded on launch, scattering the mail. This is Scarp seen from Huisinis. More pics and info https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/harris/huisinis/index.html #Scotland #Harris
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Dunfermline Abbey Church in the heart of Dunfermline in Fife, burial place of King Robert the Bruce. It is also one of Scotland's most unusual places of worship, split into two very distinct churches that have been joined in the middle. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dunfermline/abbeychurch/index.html #Scotland #Fife
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The lovely Dawyck Botanic Garden and arboretum, on 60 acres or 24 hectare of land that rises above the River Tweed near Stobo, south-west of Peebles in the Scottish Borders. It is the result of over 300 years of tree collecting. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/peebles/dawyckgarden/index.html #Scotland #ScottishBorders
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A view of the harbour at Mallaig, the village at the end of the "Road to the Isles" and the West Highland Railway; and a place where you can catch ferries to Skye, the Small Isles, South Uist and the Knoydart peninsula. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/mallaig/mallaig/index.html #Scotland #Mallaig #Lochaber
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The mysterious Torwood Blue Pool near Denny. This circular brick structure is full of remarkably blue water and its origin and purpose continue to be debated, though it was probably an air shaft for a coal mine that closed in 1910. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/denny/bluepool/index.html #Scotland #Denny
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The enigmatic Eagle Stone, or Clach an Tiompain, at the eastern end of Strathpeffer. It is a Pictish symbol stone dating back 1,500 years or more that was the subject of a prophesy by the Brahan Seer, Scotland's answer to Nostradamus. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/strathpeffer/eaglestone/index.html #Scotland
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The fragmentary ruins of Ardvreck Castle, overlooking Loch Assynt in the heart of Sutherland. Dating back to around 1490, the castle is best known for a notorious betrayal of Highland hospitality that took place here in 1650. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lochinver/ardvreckcastle/index.html #Scotland #Sutherland
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The slightly weird Hill o' Many Stanes in Caithness. It's a hill, with many stones. But why? It is generally believed to have been erected some 4,000 years ago, but no real dating evidence has been found. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lybster/manystanes/index.html #Scotland #HillOManyStanes #Caithness
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The superb beach at Gullane Bents, in Gullane, East Lothian. It looks north-west over Gullane Bay to the Firth of Forth and at high tide the beach can all but disappear. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/gullane/gullane/index.html #Scotland #Gullane #GullaneBents #Beach #EastLothian
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The rare and intriguing Yarrow Stone in the Scottish Borders. Its inscription, displayed sideways, is early Christian and in Latin; and commemorates two princes named Nudoss and Dumnogenus, who lived and died in the 400s or 500s. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/selkirk/yarrowstone/index.html #Scotland
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Balvaird Castle, probably built on the site of an earlier castle in 1500 and enjoying an imposing hilltop setting in the Ochil Hills east of the M90. It's no Stirling Castle, but as a statement of dominance it still takes some beating. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glenfarg/balvairdcastle/index.html #Scotland
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Hackness Martello Tower on the island of South Walls in Orkney. It was built in 1814 to guard Longhope Sound, part of Scapa Flow, from attack by the French and by US privateers. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hoy/hackness/index.html #Scotland #HacknessMartelloTower #SouthWalls #Orkney #Longhope #ScapaFlow
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Beautiful Castle Stalker, seen from the road to Port Appin in Argyll, with the mountains of Morvern in the background. The castle was built on its own very small islet in Loch Laich in about 1495 by Duncan Stewart of Appin. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/appin/portappin/index.html #Scotland #Argyll #Morvern
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The fragmentary but intriguing ruins of Saddell Abbey, on the east coast of the Kintyre peninsula north of Campbeltown. It was founded in 1140 and is home to a truly remarkable collection of late medieval grave slabs and effigies. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/carradale/saddellabbey/index.html #Scotland #Kintyre
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The magnificent 30m high Kelpies, the world's largest equine sculptures, created in 2013 by Andy Scott and standing close to the Forth and Clyde Canal and the M9 motorway in the Falkirk council area. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/falkirk/kelpies/index.html #Scotland #Kelpies #Falkirk #Grangemouth
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Corgarff Castle, in a wild and lonely setting at the head of Strathdon, on the flank of the Cairngorms and guarding the quickest route from Deeside to Speyside. The castle was built in about 1550 and has an outer wall added in 1748. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/strathdon/corgarffcastle/index.html #Scotland #Strathdon
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When it opened in 2018, the Borders Distillery in Hawick became the first (legal) whisky distillery in the Scottish Borders since 1837. It comes complete with the most visually impressive still room we've seen. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hawick/bordersdistillery/index.html #Scotland #Hawick #ScottishBorders
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The Aikey Brae Stone Circle stands in a wonderfully secluded location at the summit of Parkhouse Hill near Maud and is the most original, complete, and "unimproved" stone circle on view in northern Aberdeenshire. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/deer/aikeybrae/index.html #Scotland #AikeyBrae #Aberdeenshire
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Dundrennan Abbey, five miles east of Kirkcudbright in Dumfries & Galloway and a beautiful set of ruins in a beautiful location. Cistercian monks first came here in 1142 and they stayed for over four centuries. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dundrennan/dundrennanabbey/index.html #Scotland #DumfriesAndGalloway
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The highly memorable peat smoke atmosphere at the superb Blackhouse Museum at Arnol on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles. The museum recreates a way of life that was once common across significant parts of Scotland. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lewis/blackhousemuseum/index.html #Scotland #Lewis #WesternIsles
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The magical little harbour at Cove near Cockburnspath in the Scottish Borders, one of the hidden gems of south-east Scotland. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/cockburnspath/cove/index.html #Scotland #Cove #Cockburnspath #ScottishBorders #Harbour
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The magnificent Dunnottar Castle on the Aberdeenshire coast south of Stonehaven. Probably a defensive site for two thousand years or more, no other Scottish castle comes close in terms of a sense of sheer brooding impregnability. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stonehaven/dunnottarcastle/index.html #Scotland #Aberdeenshire
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The recreated crannog on Loch Tay, at the Scottish Crannog Centre. It has since been sadly destroyed but is being replaced nearby. This is a type of dwelling that 2,500 years ago would have been a common sight across Scotland and Ireland. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kenmore/crannogcentre/index.html #Scotland