Love Scotland: Stories of Scotland's History and Nature – Details, episodes & analysis

How do you restore a 200-year-old church on one of Scotland’s most remote islands? Jackie Bird sits down with Susan Bain, property manager of St Kilda, to find out. 

 A dual UNESCO World Heritage Site that sits on the edge of the Atlantic, St Kilda is vital to Scottish history but a big challenge for the Trust to care for properly. Once inhabited year-round by a civilian population, the island now hosts annual maintenance, archaeology, conservation and bird monitoring projects. This year, that included the restoration of a building that used to be at the very heart of the community.

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For more information on St Kilda, click here.

The work on St Kilda’s Kirk was made possible thanks to supporters of our Caring for St Kilda campaign. Thank you to all of them. 

As a charity, we can only undertake work such as this with your support. Please, if you can, donate today and help us continue to carry out conservation work across St Kilda. Find out more about the second phase of the campaign, which will restore the kirk’s interiors, here.

Meet Hugh Miller: the man regarded as the David Attenborough of his day. Though often overlooked in the history books, this self-taught geologist helped to popularise natural history to his Victorian audience.

 What did he help to discover about prehistoric Scotland? How were his scientific findings viewed by his peers? And why has he not remained better known?

 Joining Jackie Bird this week is James Ryan, visitor services assistant at Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum in Cromarty.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

For more on Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum, click here.

Earlier this year, Mackintosh at the Willow – a tea room on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street that dates back to 1903 – joined the National Trust for Scotland’s portfolio of special places. To better understand the venue and the role it played in Edwardian Glasgow, Jackie sits down for a cup of tea with two expert guests.

Celia Sinclair Thornqvist MBE, who purchased, saved and restored Mackintosh at the Willow in 2014, is joined by cultural historian Robyne Calvert to reveal the hidden stories of the last remaining original tea room designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald. They also detail the life of Glasgow entrepreneur Miss Catherine Cranston, who once ran the tea room.

Who would have once frequented the tea room? What makes Mackintosh at the Willow such a shining example of its designers’ talents? And what has it taken to restore the magnificent tea room into the stunning location it is today?

For more on Mackintosh at the Willow, visit the website

You may also enjoy our previous episode on the life of Margaret Macdonald, available here.

We finish our pick of episodes from the archives with this conversation between Jackie and actor Sam Heughan, first released in 2022.

The Dumfries and Galloway-born Outlander star, who has also launched his own whisky brand and became a New York Times bestselling author in 2020, joined Jackie to discuss his on-screen adventures at some of Scotland’s most famous historical sites. They also talked about the effect Outlander has had on the global interest in Scottish stories.

What drew Sam to take on the West Highland Way? What is it that he so loves about the great outdoors? And how did he celebrate landing the part of a lifetime in Outlander?

Hear all of that – and an excerpt from Sam’s book, Waypoints: My Scottish Journey – in the episode.

Love Scotland will return with brand new episodes later in 2024.

We’re rolling out the red carpet for this episode from the archives, first released in 2022. With Hollywood’s eyes on this weekend’s Academy Awards, take a dive into this cinematic history of Scotland’s relationship with the silver screen.

What was the first film to earn Scotland a place on the movie-making map? Which horror cult classic was shot in Dumfries and Galloway? And what famous Scottish film was filmed in LA because producers felt Scotland wasn’t Scottish enough?

Jackie is joined in the studio by film and TV critic Siobhan Synnot and NTS Film Manager Anna Rathban as they delve into some of the nation’s most influential movies, including the Harry Potter series, the James Bond classic Skyfall and Marvel’s Avengers franchise. Plus, Anna gives an insight into her behind-the-scenes access on major film sets.

To find out more about Trust properties and sites that have appeared on the silver screen, click here.

Next week, we revisit another 2022 episode, featuring a man who shot to success thanks to his leading role on a Scottish TV smash hit.

New episodes of Love Scotland will return later in 2024.

This week, we’re going all the way back to Roman times – an an episode first released in 2023 – to find out about the Antonine wall and why Scotland was ‘Rome’s Afghanistan’.

What led to the speedy evacuation of the Antonine wall, which was once garrisoned by thousands of Roman soldiers? What was Rome’s relationship with the lands beyond the wall really like? And just how did a small, stubborn nation see of a continental superpower?

To find out, Jackie visited the nation-spanning wall herself and then met Dr John Reid, author of The Eagle and the Bear: A New History of Roman Scotland, to get a deeper insight into this fractious period of history and its long-lasting legacy.

Next week, as the Oscars get under way in LA, we revisit Scotland’s relationship with the silver screen.

New episodes of Love Scotland will return later in 2024.

This week, we’re returning to one of our most popular episodes, which was first released in May 2022.

Jackie was joined by Dr Ciaran Jones, the lead researcher and author of a report on the links between NTS properties and the witch trials of the 16th-18th centuries.

Why did Scotland try to execute five times as many so-called witches as the rest of the Europe? What fuelled 4,000 people, the vast majority of them women, to be accused of witchcraft? Why were wires inserted into suspected witches? And what was it that finally drew this dark chapter of Scottish history to an end?

This episode looks at the dark past of witch trials – a story that may sound like it belongs in the history books – and the relevance they have to the way we live – and let live – today.

Next week, we go further back in time to find out more about the Roman invasion of Scotland.

New episodes of Love Scotland will return later in 2024.

Production is underway on the next full series of Love Scotland, but in the meantime, we’re diving into the archives to highlight five of the top episodes of all time.

This week, we’re returning to two episodes that – when combined – offer a full look at the Massacre of Glencoe. Some 332 years ago this week, around 30 members of Clan MacDonald were killed by Scottish government forces, many while they slept.

This tragic and bloodthirsty event was significant in Jacobean history and has had a long-lasting legacy.

To find out more, Jackie is joined by Derek Alexander, NTS Head of Archaeology, and Scott McCombie, senior ranger. To find out more about Glencoe, click here. 

Next week, we revisit another dark chapter in Scottish history: the witch trials.

New episodes of Love Scotland will return later in 2024.

This week, Jackie and her guest discuss six objects in the Trust’s collections that help to tell the stories of some of the most fascinating women connected to Trust places. Regional curators Emma Inglis and Antonia Laurence-Allen help to paint a picture of these six women, whose lives and jobs range from being an ale-brewer in 1600s Edinburgh to the daughter of an earl in Clackmannanshire.

What does a job application from 1910 tell us about the changing world of work at the turn of the century? Why was ale-making seen as a predominantly female profession? And who was the historical figure behind Alloa’s successful glasswork?

For more information about the places mentioned in this episode, please follow the links below:

Gladstone’s Land

Weaver’s Cottage

Alloa Tower

Hill House

Broughton House

Tenement House

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So far this series we’ve looked at two of Scotland’s most famous monarchs: Robert the Bruce and Mary, Queen of Scots. Today, we step back further in time to meet the rulers whose names have become more forgotten to time.

Helping Jackie to acquaint herself with the earliest kings and queens of Scotland is Richard Oram, a professor of medieval and environmental history at Stirling University. Together, they piece together a picture of the most significant crown-wearers leading up to Robert the Bruce.

How did Scotland come to be ruled by a king in the first place? Who made the biggest mark on the kingdom? And just how accurate is Shakespeare’s take on early monarchs Macbeth and Duncan?

Find out more about the Trust’s castles and royal places here.

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