Love Scotland: Stories of Scotland's History and Nature

This week, Jackie dives into a biographical account of life on the remote St Kilda in the early 20th century. Using handwritten diaries kept by Alice MacLachlan, a schoolteacher who lived on the archipelago between August 1906 and May 1909, we can get a hugely personal view of the challenges and unique circumstances of life there. In this special episode, you will hear extracts from the diaries brought to life and original music inspired by the islands. You can find more about the St Kilda diaries here. Find out more about St Kilda here. To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

They are the soundtrack to weddings, funerals, Burns night celebrations and more. Bagpipes have earned their places as the national instrument of Scotland and holds a special place in the heart of many Scots and the global diaspora. Today, Jackie discovers the history and cultural significance of the Great Highland bagpipes, which are one of hundreds of types of bagpipes played around the world. She’s joined by Richard McLauchlan, piper and author of The Bagpipes: A Cultural History. Together, they discuss the role of bagpipes in Scottish history, what makes the Great Highland bagpipes so special, and the surprising identity of the first person ever described as a bagpiper. To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Whether it’s a woodland walk, a wild swim, or a mosey around a garden, we’ve all experienced the effects of nature on our wellbeing. Here at the Trust we know this too well, which is why we’ve launched our Walk 25 campaign – see below. This week on the podcast, Jackie explores the science behind this phenomenon to discover why the natural world can have such a powerful influence on our health and mood. Professor Kathy Willis of the University of Oxford joins Jackie to reveal her findings in this area, and to offer some top tips to boost the positive effects of nature. If you’re looking for more outdoor inspiration, visit nts.org.uk/walk25. To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Reporting from both Rome and the studio, Jackie tracks the life of Charles Edward Stuart – known to many by the nickname of Bonnie Prince Charlie – after the events of the Battle of Culloden. Between his birth in Italy’s capital in 1720 and his death, also in Rome in 1788, Charles led a life of great historical significance. Today, though, Jackie focuses on his final years. Joined by Dr Calum Cunningham of the University of Stirling, and Italian academic Stefano Baccolo, they discuss Charles’s legacy, his family, and his experience upon returning to Rome, To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For more on Culloden, click here or visit the National Trust for Scotland website. You can also find more episodes on the life of Charles Edward Stuart and the Battle of Culloden by scrolling down the Love Scotland feed.

In the second instalment of her visit to Canna, Jackie heads to sea with ranger Tom Allen to learn all about the island’s seabirds. The island’s cliffs are packed with a whole host of nesting birds, making Canna an important colony site for many of Scotland’s species. Then, Jackie gets to know some more of the people who call Canna home, including the harbour master. As she dives into the stories of Canna, Jackie discovers some of the unique challenges and rewards of living on the island, and why the people who live there love it so much. To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For more on Canna, click here. *Since recording, Gareth Cole has announced that Café Canna has been put up for sale.

In the first of a two-part visit to the Isle of Canna, Jackie meets the team behind Canna House: the former home of Gaelic scholars John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw. The National Trust for Scotland has recently complete a nine-year programme of repair and restoration to the house, which now has a strong sense of being a lived-in, post-war home. Jackie finds out all about the house’s history, the work down by John and Margaret, and the cultural significance of the Canna collection. With grateful thanks to all those who have supported our conservation and reimagination of Canna House and Archives, through individual donations and gifts given in Wills. We are especially grateful to the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA and to the members of our Patrons' Club & Founders' Circle for their ongoing love for and support of Canna. To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Next week, Jackie heads to sea to meet Canna’s winged inhabitants. For more information on the Canna House project, click here. For more on Canna, click here.

This week, Jackie is off to Glencoe to meet the National Trust for Scotland’s footpaths team – a hard-working group who protect hundreds of miles of paths across the country. In a year that also marks the 25 years of the Footpath Fund, which supports the team’s work, Jackie finds out what it takes to maintain the Trust’s path network. Jackie discovers the challenges of rewards of a job that takes the team to some of Scotland’s highest peaks, their secrets to success, and the real world consequences of the paths they maintain. To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For more information on the Footpath Fund, click here. For more on Glencoe, click here.

Double, double, toil and trouble… the Scottish play… out, damned spot! William Shakespeare’s take on Macbeth has well and truly embedded itself in our culture. The play, written in the early 17th century, charts how an ambitious Macbeth turns to violence in order to realise a prophetic vision of becoming King of Scotland. But what of the real Macbeth, who really did sit upon the Scottish throne? What is known of this 11th century monarch? And how much of his life can be compared to the fictitious monarch of Shakespeare’s play? To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For more information on Iona, click here.

In the second of our Second World War-themed episodes, Jackie heads to Tenement House in Glasgow to hear about the experiences of an ordinary woman who lived during this extraordinary chapter of history. Agnes Toward, who lived at Tenement House from 1911 until 1965, preserved her furniture and belongings as a way of creating a frozen time capsule. Nowadays, visitors can experience how things would have been for Toward during both world wars and their aftermaths. How did life change for Glaswegians during the war? What does Toward’s writing tell us about how society reacted to the outbreak of the conflict? And what were the lasting changes post-war? To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For more information on Tenement House, click here.

With the 80th anniversary of VE Day less than a week away, Jackie heads to Aberdeenshire to find out more about the Haddo babies: the more than 1,250 children born at Haddo House when it became an emergency maternity unit during the Second World War. Discover how the stately home was transformed into a makeshift hospital, and what happened to those babies after the war. Jackie sits down with visitor services supervisor Claire Russell and Haddo baby Jean Glately to discuss the history of the house, the realities of converting it into a maternity ward, and the story of Jean and her mother. To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For more information on Haddo House, click here