D1 Thursday, 11 July

Tim will collect you from the Hampton by Hilton hotel at Edinburgh Airport, from where we drive north, crossing the Forth of Firth to Dunkeld, for a short break in this attractive and historic town, reputedly one of the best-preserved historic towns in Scotland, grabbing a coffee and cake from Aran, a well-known local bakery.

We continue north for an afternoon at Cawdor Castle, the late 14th century, built as a private fortress by the Thanes of Cawdor. We will arrive in time for lunch and have the afternoon exploring both the castle and its gardens. Three separate gardens, which include large herbaceous borders, collections of rhododendrons, flowering trees and shrubs and archways of rambling roses and laburnum.

It’s only a 15-minute drive from Cawdor Castle to Nairn and our hotel, The Golf View, where we’ll arrive in good time to check in and relax before a stroll along the promenade for dinner at Sundancer, a highly-regarded local eatery famous for its seafood.

Today’s driving is approx. 170 miles/270 km

D2 Friday, 12 July

We cross Scotland from the east coast to the west, for a private visit to the House of Gruinard, the most idyllically situated of houses, where head gardener, Fiona Clark, will show us around this amazing seaside and riverside garden.

We will stop for photographs across Little Loch Broom and stop, too, at the Dundonnell Hotel for some lunch, before a second private visit, to Dundonnell House, where Will Soos, head gardener and former head gardener at Inverewe, will conduct us around this magnificent garden. We visited Dundonnell for the first time in July 2018 and it immediately became everyone's favourite garden. It is, essentially, a glorious walled garden dominated by a wonderful, ancient yew tree and Will's very clever gardening.

We will stop once more, at the Corrieshalloch Gorge to see the Falls of Measach, before arriving in Ullapool and our hotel, The Ceilidh Place, in good time to check in and relax before drinks and dinner at the hotel.

Today’s driving is approx. 130 miles/210 km

D3 Saturday, 13 July

There are not many roads in these parts, so we start the day retracing some of yesterday’s journey to Durnamuck, the garden of Will Soos and his wife, Sue, for coffee and a tour of their sensational garden set in stunning surroundings overlooking Little Loch Broom – forgive the superlatives, but it’s all true!

And then to Inverewe for lunch and the afternoon exploring the gardens created in 1862 by Osgood Mackenzie on the estate his mother bought for him. Sitting on the eastern shore of Loch Ewe, Inverewe was given to the National Trust for Scotland in 1952 by Osgood's daughter, Mairi Sawyer, and the garden, today, covers some 50 acres/20 ha. It is a botanical garden noted for the breadth of its collection of over 2,500 exotic plants and flowers, including the most northerly planting of rare Wollemi trees.

Late in the afternoon, we’ll explore some of Loch Ewe and its fascinating history during WW2 before dinner at the Badachro Inn, a place where Sofia and I first visited with four young children in 2006!

Today’s driving is approx. 130 miles/210 km

D4 Sunday, 14 July

Today is a day of leisure and relaxation, enjoying a boat trip to the Summer Isles with Seascape Expeditions and a lazy afternoon exploring Ullapool and, just perhaps, time for an afternoon nap!

The Summer Isles is a group of about 20 islands, rocks and skerries off the Coigach peninsula. There is an RSPB reserve and the islands are home to seals, otters and seabirds, including over 2000 breeding pairs of storm petrels. The largest island, Tanera Mor, is some 800 acres/300 ha and is the only island permanently inhabited. In the 18th century it was the centre of a thriving herring fishing industry, and many centuries before that its sheltered harbour was home to Vikings.

We don’t yet know if our boat trip will be in the morning or in the afternoon, but whenever it is we will meet at our hotel for drinks and dinner.

D5 Monday, 15 July

Picnics packed, we leave Ullapool for an epic journey through the stunning mountain landscape of northern Scotland. Driving north, our first stop is Lairg, a popular village on the shores of Loch Shin, where we’ll have coffee at the Pier Cafe. Continuing north, along Strath Vagastie to Loch Laver, stopping for photos and to stretch our legs along the route, we’ll find somewhere fitting for our picnic lunch, then continue, along Strath Laver until we emerge at the north coast, at Bettyhill.

We’ll visit Strathnaver Museum, a museum largely dedicated to the Highland Clearances (see below), before our coastal drive east, for the statutory group photograph at John O'Groats. It's then time for the late afternoon, one-hour crossing to Orkney from Gills Bay with Pentland Ferries, and to The Lynfield, our home for the next three nights, where we plan to arrive in good time for drinks and dinner.

Today’s driving is approx. 170 miles/270 km

D6 Tuesday, 16 July

We start the day aboard the Hoy Head ferry to visit the recently reopened Scapa Flow Museum, the award-winning museum charting Orkney’s military involvement in the First and Second World Wars.

Returning to Mainland, Orkney’s largest island, we’ll visit the Broch of Gurness, an impressive Iron Age complex and one of the most outstanding examples of a later prehistoric settlement in Scotland, and the Brough of Birsay, a tidal island, reached by a causeway, with Pictish, Norse and medieval remains.

Then to Kirkwall, Orkney's administrative centre, in the late afternoon for a stroll around and to visit the majestic St Magnus Cathedral.

Finally, we drive just to the southwest of Kirkwall, for dinner at The Foveran, overlooking Scapa Flow.

Today’s driving is approx. 60 miles/100 km

D7 Wednesday, 17 July

Our second day on Orkney is devoted to exploring the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, the principal Neolithic monuments nearby and the settlement at Skara Brae, together with a number of other burial, ceremonial and settlement sites – it is a most significant prehistoric landscape, depicting life on this archipelago some 5,000 years ago.

Our itinerary is largely determined by the timings of escorted tours and guided walks of some of the attractions, but in whichever order we do it, we will visit Skara Brae, the best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe, and a thriving village long before Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids were even conceived, and the astonishing excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, where we shall have the services of one of the archaeologists to act as a guide. We will walk around the Ring of Brodgar and take an escorted visit to Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, one of Europe's finest chambered tombs. It is a full and fascinating day, glimpsing, as we shall, the life of our ancestors some fifty centuries ago.

We return to The Lynnfield for drinks and dinner.

Today’s driving is approx. 60 miles/100 km

D8 Thursday, 18 July

Our last visit, before we leave Orkney on the mid-morning ferry, is to the Italian Chapel, two utility Nissen huts transformed into a beautiful chapel by Italian prisoners of war.

On to St Margaret’s Hope for the ferry to Gills Bay and then a short drive to the Castle of Mey, the private Scottish residence of the late Queen Mother, for lunch and an early afternoon visit to the house and gardens. Built by the 4th Earl of Caithness, in 1573, the castle was improved by the 12th Earl in 1819 and bought by The Queen Mother in 1952 who, in turn, renovated the castle, its garden and grounds. The great treat, when visiting the castle, is being conducted around by some of the Queen Mother's former staff, all of whom talk of her with great fondness.

We continue south, along the North Sea for company, for a brief visit to Dunrobin Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Sutherland, and easily the largest house in northern Scotland. The current house, inspired by French châteaux with a Victorian twist, sits high above steep terraces, leading to two parterres, each laid out around circular fountains.

And finally, to Kincraig Castle Hotel, where we can relax over drinks and enjoy our end-of-tour dinner.

Today’s driving is approx. 130 miles/210 km

D9 Friday, 19 July

We would usually head straight to the airport at this point, but we have all day and two more visits, firstly a private visit to Old Allangrange, the home and garden of our good friend JJ Gladwin. JJ embraces organic and no-dig gardening principles and her kitchen garden is something to behold.

We’ll have a guided walk around her garden and a coffee, before continuing south for a lunch-stop visit to Blair Castle, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Atholl. We’ll have time to visit the Hercules Garden, a nine-acre walled garden, named for the life-sized statue of Hercules overlooking the garden. It has been beautifully restored to its original Georgian design and is famous for its lily pond and Chinese bridge.

It’s about a two-hour drive from Blair Castle to Edinburgh Airport, where the tour ends and where we plan to be by 17.00/5 pm.

If you are staying in the UK and don't need, or wish, to return to Edinburgh, then please let us know your onward travel plans, so that we may assist you in getting to your next destination.

Today’s driving is approx. 190 miles/300 km