Love Scotland: Stories of Scotland's History and Nature

This year, the National Trust for Scotland’s Burns Big Night In returns. Radio DJ and personality Edith Bowman will be presenting a night of music, song and verse direct to living rooms across the land from Burns Cottage in Ayrshire.

For Love Scotland, we join host Jackie Bird for a very special chat with two of the Burns Big Night In guests – leading contemporary poets, Janette Ayachi and Michael Pederson. 

Janette Ayachi is based in Edinburgh, born in London, with Scottish and Algerian heritage. She’s a regular on BBC Scotland arts programmes and has published work in nearly a broad range of literary journals.

Michael Pederson writes in English and Scots and performs at festivals everywhere from Edinburgh to Indonesia. He co-founded Neu! Reekie!, an arts collective that spans events, publishing and a record label. 

Janette and Michael tell how Burns and how his legacy has found a place in their poetry – and read some of their new poems.

Find out more about Burns Big Night in at www.burnsbignightin.org

And in Hidden Secrets, Cameron speaks to Ann Middleton (tour guide) who discusses two etchings recently discovered around Drum Castle.

Back in 2019 the National Trust for Scotland launched an unprecedented fundraising campaign to protect the Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece, the Hill House, from the weather.

The result was the Box – a ground-breaking steel structure that was built to shelter Mackintosh’s architecture from the elements and allow time for conservators to come up with new ways to safeguard it for the future.

Two years on, Jackie Bird visits the Hill House. She meets the Trust’s Head of Building Conservation, Bryan Dickson, to hear how the Box, and the house it protects, have fared – and what comes next.

Find out more about the Hill House, and the history of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s architecture at www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/the-hill-house

Also in this episode – Cameron hears about Brodie Castle’s mysterious and ancient Egyptian figures, as part of our regular slot, Hidden Secrets.

For this special episode of Love Scotland Jackie Bird heads to Glasgow’s Pollok House to meet the one and only Mrs Claus. Yes, that’s right, every year Santa’s better half comes to Pollok to make children’s Christmas wishes come true – all thanks to longstanding Trust volunteer Jennie MacLeod. Jackie Bird meets Jennie (and her alter ego, Mrs Claus) to hear about the magic of playing such an important role, and what it’s taught her about the true meaning of the festive season. 

Also in this episode – assistant producer Cameron Angus Mackay hears a fascinating story from Culloden Battlefield, as part of our regular slot, Hidden Secrets.

Find out more about Pollok House, one of the National Trust for Scotland’s grandest properties, at www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/pollok-house

All across Scotland, National Trust for Scotland staff are making the most of the winter months to clean, conserve and maintain the properties in their care. For this episode, Jackie Bird heads to the Enlightenment mansion of Newhailes where she meets visitor services supervisor Eleni Kolokytha to learn about the rhythms, rituals and routines of keeping Trust places amazing for generations to come.

You can find out more about the National Trust for Scotland's work and how to support them at: www.nts.org.uk

Who doesn’t love a dram? Call it uisge beatha, the water of life, whisky… Scotland’s national drink is known worldwide as a very special part of our culture. But what does it have to do with archaeological digs and the National Trust for Scotland? In this episode, Jackie Bird chats with Trust archaeologist Dr Daniel Rhodes and The Glenlivet’s Master Distiller Alan Winchester about Pioneering Spirit, a unique project to unearth the real history of whisky. 

You can find out more about the National Trust for Scotland's work and how to support them at: www.nts.org.uk

If you haven’t got your walking boots on yet, you will do by the time you’ve listened to this episode. Jackie Bird hears from rangers Ciaran Hatsell and Ruth Alexander about the National Trust for Scotland’s cold weather wonderlands that are great for body, mind and soul – from Perthshire’s big tree country to the seal pups of St Abbs. 

You can find out more about the National Trust for Scotland's work and how to support them at: www.nts.org.uk

For a special Halloween episode Jackie Bird follows in the path of blockbusting TV series Outlander to the historic village of Culross, where she finds out why some former residents can still be encountered today. Visitor Services Supervisor (and expert in all things supernatural) Linda Whiteford is her guide.

You can find out more about the National Trust for Scotland's work and how to support them at: www.nts.org.uk

It took three years, copious amounts of gold leaf and a team with a keen eye for detail, but now Alexander Greek Thomson’s domestic masterpiece, Holmwood House, is restored and in full glory. Jackie Bird asks curator Emma Inglis just why the Glasgow home is so special.

For more information about Love Scotland, go to: www.thebiglight.com/lovescotland

You can find out more about the National Trust for Scotland's work and how to support them at: http://www.nts.org.uk

Beneath the grand walls of Culzean Castle lies a dark and dramatic discovery – a network of caves used by smugglers in the heyday of the illicit alcohol trade. Jackie Bird gets her headtorch on to explore with Head of Archaeology Derek Alexander.

As COP26 comes to Glasgow, there are lessons to be learned from the ancient pine forests of the Cairngorms. In this episode, Jackie Bird chats to the Trust’s Conservation Manager Shaila Rao about the vital regeneration taking place at Mar Lodge Estate.