The Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is a historic region of Scotland. The area is often, incorrectly, prefixed with "Scottish" since there is no need to qualify the term. It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots (English) replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name for the highlands, A' Ghàidhealtachd, literally means 'the place of the Gaels' and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

The area is sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century the Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including the outlawing of the traditional Highland way of life following the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the infamous Highland Clearances, and mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. The average population density in the Highlands and Islands is lower than that of Sweden, Norway, Papua New Guinea and Argentina.

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, Perth and Kinross, and Stirling. Although the Isle of Arran administratively belongs to North Ayrshire, its northern part is generally regarded as part of the Highlands.

Loch Maree

Loch Maree (loch Ma-ruibhe in Gaelic) is a loch in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. At 20 km (12 mi) long and with a maximum width of 4 km (2.5 mi), it is the fourth largest freshwater loch in Scotland; it is the largest north of Loch Ness. Its surface area is 28.6 km² (11.0 sq mi).

Loch Maree contains five large wooded islands and over 25 smaller ones, many of which have their own lakelets. Isle Maree has the remains of a chapel, graveyard, holy well, and holy tree on it, believed to be the 8th century hermitage of Saint Máel Ruba (d. 722), who founded the monastery of Applecross in 672. The same island also contains ancient stands of oak and holly which have been linked with ancient Scottish druids. The waters of the loch were also thought to have curative effects, with being submerged in the water thought to be a cure for lunacy. All of the loch's islands are conservation areas. The largest is the only island in Britain to contain a loch that itself contains an island.

Like Loch Ness, Loch Maree has its own monster in the form of the muc-sheilch. The loch is often referred to as the most beautiful loch in the Highlands.

Ye Olde Smokehouse

High up in the Cameron Highlands three hours from Kuala Lumpur by car you can find the Old Smokehouse Hotel. This English mock Tudor design hotel built in 1939 takes you back to those nostalgic colonial days. The restaurant offers a traditional English breakfast and for dinner you can enjoy many of the favourite British dishes. The afternoon tea at the Smokehouse is certainly worth the drive, serving up traditional scones with cream and strawberry jam. Close to the hotel is an 18 hole golf course where you can enjoy a game in the cooler air of the highlands.

Afternoon Tea

Are you sitting having your afternoon tea? If so have you given any thought to where that tea comes from? This is a view over the Boh Tea Plantation in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia - a wonderful swathe of green bushes cover the rolling hills dotted with the tea plantation workers houses.

The Cameron Highlands sit at more than 5000 ft above sea level in the main mountain range of Malaysia and is one of the most fertile agricultural areas of the country. It's also a wonderful place to escape the hot humidity of the lowlands and the traffic jams of Kuala Lumpur for a few days of cool weather, pleasant scenery and of course .... a nice cuppa tea!