Oban and Barra and Uist, oh my! Kenneth Steven takes a tour of these magical Scottish islands and others besides
When you leave Glasgow behind (whether by car or train), you’re almost immediately into the West Highlands. Once you’ve reached Crianlarich, you’re into the heart of what I call real wildscape.
I always felt that the journey to the Outer Hebrides was like going to another country. The long spine of islands stretches like some dragon that crashed into the Atlantic millennia ago. Indeed, it was named ‘the islands of the strangers’ by the Gaelic-speaking natives, doubtless because it was here that the Norsemen settled and held sway over long centuries. The placenames they left behind are still familiar enough to any visiting Scandinavian.
There is no need to go far from Oban railway station to spend a comfortable night. Perle stands across the road, beautifully refurbished now, after years as just another rather sad and rambling Victorian hotel whose glory days had gone.
Oban is famous, these days, for seafood: a few hundred yards from Perle is Ee-usk (the phonetic Gaelic for fish). Anything and everything fishy is served in a restaurant that feels as if it’s surrounded by the sea.
I think beginning at the southern end of the Outer Hebrides and working north is best, but there’s no right or wrong way to make the journey. What is needed is a hopscotch ticket from ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne and a plan to link the times of your various inter-island journeys.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A berry timely harvest
AS summer leans into autumn and either end of the day anticipates the season to come, I occasionally find myself checking the slowly colouring fruit of the Chilean guava hedge that edges one of the perennial beds.
The rest is history
Narrative art that explored religious, mythological, historical or allegorical subjects took a while to become established in Britain, but, when it did, it was in its grandest form, on the largest scale and for a very long time, finds Michael Hall
The show must go on
England travel to Pakistan for a three-match Test series. James Fisher contemplates the sublime and the ridiculous
If walls could talk
Is it possible to take on the genius or character of those who have slept in your bed before? Steven King stays in homes with illustrious past owners to find out
That old chestnut
For the unimaginative Briton, chestnuts roasting on an open fire is the only way to go. Yet these sharp little nuts can elevate your baking game, assures John Wright
The world on the doorstep
England, Africa, Italy or China-it's possible to travel the world without leaving this imaginatively designed garden, which divides into four distinct geographical sections. Each one has resonance for the owners, reports Caroline Donald
To build or not to build
When it comes to the skyline, do we need to know when to say 'enough is enough', asks John Goodall
Pyramid scheme
In a city as large as London, the problem of where to lay the dead to rest is ever-present. One extraordinary unfulfilled scheme would have made space for five million, finds Jack Watkins
Best foot forward
Some of the country's finest estate agents let Annabel Dixon in on the secrets of prepping a country house for sale.
Nice work in the West
With hybrid working now a fact of life, four special houses in Devon and Cornwall are well equipped to more than pay their way