{"title":"Flavour of Scotland","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation.” - Voltaire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"9781849954037_walking-scotlands-lost-railways","title":"Walking Scotland's Lost Railways","description":"\u003cp\u003eWalking Scotland’s Lost Railways by Robin Howie and John McGregor is a richly illustrated walking guide and Scottish railway history book exploring the country’s abandoned, dismantled, and repurposed railway lines. Combining transport heritage, industrial archaeology and outdoor walking routes it reveals how former railways that once connected towns, villages and remote landscapes now offer some of the most fascinating heritage walks in Scotland.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAcross hundreds of miles of 'dismantled railways' the book guides readers along preserved trackbeds, converted cycleways, and overgrown yet walkable routes. Many routes still feature striking railway archaeology, including bridges, tunnels, cuttings, embankments and disused stations that continue to shape Scotland’s landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWalking Scotland’s Lost Railways also brings Scotland’s industrial past vividly to life. It traces the evolution of the railway age - from early wagonways and steam locomotion - to fierce Victorian railway competition and the dramatic impact of the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe book also reflects on Scotland’s modern railway revival, including reopened stations and major projects such as the Borders Railway between Edinburgh and Tweedbank, highlighting renewed interest in sustainable transport and regional connectivity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003ePerfect for railway enthusiasts, walkers, cyclists, and readers interested in Scottish history, industrial heritage and countryside exploration, this guide offers inspiring walking routes across Scotland’s lost railways. Ideal for an afternoon stroll, a day walk, or a weekend adventure.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Robin Howie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733659693430,"sku":"9781849954037","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849954037.jpg?v=1774333085"},{"product_id":"9781849954389_reading-the-gaelic-landscape","title":"Reading the Gaelic Landscape","description":"\u003cp\u003eA comprehensive field guide to the toponymy of the Gaelic landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is essential for anyone who is interested in the Scottish Highlands and its native language. It enables people to read and understand place names in Gaelic and provides insights into landscape character and history. It enriches the experience of walkers, climbers, sailors, bird watchers and fishers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"John Murray","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733659431286,"sku":"9781849954389","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849954389.jpg?v=1767164950"},{"product_id":"9781849956017_daughters-of-the-north","title":"Daughters of the North","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe first biography of Jean Gordon, best known as the first wife of the notorious Earl of Bothwell. Bothwell divorced Jean in order to marry Mary Queen of Scots, and Jean and her family were closely involved in all of the major events of Mary’s short and turbulent reign in Scotland. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eJean was the youngest daughter of the powerful Earl of Huntly, the ‘King in the North’, and \u003cem\u003eDaughters of the North\u003c\/em\u003e reframes the history of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots by viewing events from Jean’s point of view and from the standpoint of the north of Scotland.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe book reveals the intrigue at the royal court, and relates that Jean’s life was much more rich and complex than supposed. Jean married three times, and her second marriage was to the Earl of Sutherland, making her the Countess of Sutherland – the most powerful woman in the north of Scotland, negotiating between the Earls and the clans and exercising a huge influence over the area. She started a coal mine and salt pan in Brora in the 16th century, an astonishing example of early industrialisation and female agency at a time when the north of Scotland was considered to be wild and lawless; the preserve of violent clansmen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eJean’s daughter married the Chief of Mackay, and Jean became involved in the complicated life of the clans of the north of Scotland, particularly the Mackays, but also the Clan Gunn. Her Sutherland Gordon family had an ongoing feud with the Sinclair Earls of Caithness, while her wider Huntly Gordon family was involved in the famous Gordon-Moray feud – all events remembered in the songs, stories and sayings of the north and north-east. Meanwhile, Jean followed her heart and was reunited in old age with the love of her life. This painstakingly researched and detailed story gives the reader an eminently readable insight into Jean’s life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jennifer Morag Henderson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733661757814,"sku":"9781849956017","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849956017.jpg?v=1764233834"},{"product_id":"9781849955874_wild-galloway","title":"Wild Galloway","description":"\u003cp\u003eWild Galloway by Ian Carter is a richly illustrated natural history and wildlife photography book celebrating the diverse landscapes, habitats, and biodiversity of Galloway in south-west Scotland. Blending personal reflection with expert naturalist insight, the book explores one of Britain’s most unspoilt wild places, from ancient woodland and heather-clad hills to coastal merse, mudflats and the dramatic Solway Firth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBased on a lifetime of experience as a naturalist and conservationist, Carter offers an immersive account of living in a remote Scottish glen where wildlife thrives just beyond the doorstep. Readers encounter red squirrels at the window, pine martens in the woods, golden eagles overhead, and otters and brown trout in the burn, revealing the richness of Scottish wildlife in its natural habitat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWild Galloway highlights the ecological importance of wild places and the deep connections formed between people and nature in low-population rural landscapes. The glen itself reflects the wider biodiversity of Galloway, featuring moorland, bog, ancient ash and hazel woodland, and coastal ecosystems that support red grouse, seabirds, waders, and migratory species.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003ePerfect for readers interested in Scottish wildlife, nature writing, birdwatching, conservation, walking, and environmental heritage, Wild Galloway is both a personal memoir and a stunning portrait of Scotland’s natural world, showcasing the enduring value of wilderness and biodiversity conservation in the UK.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ian Carter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733662478710,"sku":"9781849955874","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849955874.jpg?v=1767164949"},{"product_id":"9781849955515_landscape-change-in-the-scottish-highlands","title":"Landscape Change in the Scottish Highlands","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Scottish Highlands have a strong appeal to the public imagination. Indeed, as a result of the writings of Sir Walter Scott, they are now symbolic of Scotland as a whole: a land of mountains, glens and lochs, of golden eagles and red deer; a land with a rich cultural history of clans and clanship, of kilts and castles, of crofts, crofting, Highland cows and sheep, of music and dance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut does this imagined landscape relate to the actuality? Is it in fact a wild landscape which has escaped the pressures of the modern world, or does such untrammelled wildness only reside in the mind?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe aim of this book is to answer this last question by taking an objective look at the history of the Highland landscape, how it has changed over the centuries and how it is still changing. It challenges the view that the Highlands are, to quote the famous ecologist Frank Fraser Darling, ‘a devastated landscape’ – that is a landscape damaged by centuries of overgrazing and human exploitation. Instead it points out that the evidence suggests that the traditional unwooded Highland landscape of open hill and moor is one of the most natural remaining in northwest Europe, showing only minimal signs of human impact over the millennia; apart, that is, from the areas of human settlement. The occurrence of woodland as only isolated fragments scattered across the land is in fact a key biodiversity feature of the Highlands, distinguishing the far northwest of Britain from most of western Europe, where woodland would undoubtedly be a dominant habitat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere certainly were significantly more trees in the past but the woodland declined naturally over the millennia for a complex variety of reasons. Hence the current approach of putting trees back in the landscape, nowadays termed ‘reforesting’ or ‘rewilding’ is in fact destroying the very essence of the land. Similarly, the current activity of ‘restoring’ peatland can also result in a loss of the naturalness of the landscape. Indeed, loss of natural habitat is seen as a serious global issue, with humans slowly taking over for themselves the whole planet, leaving little space available for the wildness of nature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e                It is not only reforesting and peatland restoration which is destroying the naturalness of the Highland landscape, but also the continuing encroachment of infrastructure, whether hill tracks, wind turbines, dams, phone masts, ski development, fences, and commercial forestry plantations. At the current rate of attrition, the wild landscape will soon remain only in the imagination, the open hills and moors having been dumped into the dustbin of history. The Highlands, sadly, will be like everywhere else in the world: developed and managed to extinction!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhy can we not just let the hills be? After all, this is how they were for thousands of years until landownership entered the Highlands following the Battle of Culloden.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"James Fenton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733662839158,"sku":"9781849955515","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849955515.jpg?v=1767164948"},{"product_id":"9781849955997_leaving-lethinnis","title":"Leaving Lethinnis","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn this sequel to \u003cem\u003eLife in Lethinnis\u003c\/em\u003e, Rory offers a further collection of pen-portraits from those early years in the place he has called Lochuisge.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of Lillian Beckwith’s \u003cem\u003eThe Hills is Lonely\u003c\/em\u003e, or Sybil Armstrong’s \u003cem\u003eA Croft in Clachan\u003c\/em\u003e, the anecdotes inevitably revolve around the strong characters that made up this isolated community and became part of everyday life. With the author continuing to earn a living as a professional biologist, the characters featured are both human and animal as the various tales capture the atmosphere of living and working in this tight-knit community into which he and his wife were so immediately welcomed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter 20 years leading a research group in wildlife biology at the University of Southampton, Rory Putman decided to ‘retire’ to the Highlands of Scotland, moving with his wife to a croft at the edge of a small and somewhat inaccessible village on the west coast. In the same vein as the well-received \u003cem\u003eLife in Lethinnis,\u003c\/em\u003e he offers a further collection of cameos from those first few years as they moved into and settled in their remote smallholding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe author’s intimate writing style draws the reader with him into the heart of that same community. But in this sequel there is perhaps a greater darkness as Putman registers that life on the Peninsula is changing and that he is in effect chronicling the end of an era.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rory Putman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56733661856118,"sku":"9781849955997","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/9120\/6262\/files\/9781849955997.jpg?v=1767336430"}],"url":"https:\/\/portopress.com\/collections\/books-on-scotland.oembed","provider":"Porto Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}