30PLACES?SPRING 2012WWW.NTS.ORG.UKYour opinionSome of these Trust extremes -highest, for instance - are matters offact. Others are matters of opinion. Doyou disagree with any? Or would youlike to nominate your own Trustextreme? Spookiest, perhaps? Mostbeautiful? Grandest? Most surprising?Most peaceful? Most memorable?Most child-friendly? Email us oneditor@scotlandintrust.co.ukor write to Letters to the Editor, Scotland in Trust, 91 East LondonStreet, Edinburgh EH7 4BQ.It is home to a handful of Trust andMinistry of Defence personnel, the lattertasked with tracking missiles fired fromBenbecula. But it is still quiet, and theother islands in the group are undisturbed.An estimated half a million birds -gannets, puffins, fulmars, guillemots andgreat skuas -thrive there. Its history and wildlife have earned StKilda dual Unesco World Heritage status. Itis the only place in Britain so honoured. NORTHERNMOSTUnstThe Trust cares for several parcels of landon Britain's most northerly inhabitedisland. From the Shetland mainland ittakes two ferry trips and a drive across theisland of Yell to get there, but it's worth it. Birdwatchers are attracted by 25,000breeding pairs of puffins each summer, aswell as countless gannets and fulmars.Inland, on the bogs and hills, a largeproportion of the British whimbrelpopulation breeds. Lucky twitchers mayalso spot windblown exotica such as aPallas's grasshopper warbler from Siberia ora collared flycatcher from eastern Europe.More than 300 species have been recorded- not bad for an island just 12 miles long.Geologists revel in Unst's divisionbetween the impermeable schists andgneisses that underlie the west of theisland, giving rise to a boggy landscape richin wildlife, and the porous gabbro andThe Pineapple, Airth, FalkirkTel: 0844 493 2132Ben Macdui, part of Mar Lodge Estate, Estate Office, Mar Lodge, Braemar,Aberdeenshire AB35 5YJTel: 0844 493 2172Robert Burns Birthplace Museum,Murdoch's Lane, Alloway, Ayr KA7 4PQTel: 0844 493 2601Iona Tel: 0844 493 2214Pitmedden Garden, Ellon,Aberdeenshire AB41 7PDTel: 0844 493 2177St Kilda, Western IslesTel: 0844 493 2241Caiy Stane, Caiystane View, EdinburghUnst, ShetlandTel: 0844 493 2239Broughton House, 12 High Street, Kirkcudbright,Dumfries & Galloway DG6 4JXTel: 0844 493 2246serpentine of the east, which are covered inwell-drained soil rich in herbs. Unusualplants include Norwegian sandwort andnotable insects include the exile moth,found nowhere else in Britain.Lovers of extremes will enjoy the way theisland contains many UK 'northernmosts'.The oddest is the northernmost bus shelterat Baltasound, which is elaboratelyfurnished and decorated by local people,triggering reflections on the boundariesbetween the public and private realm.Visitors to Unst can stay somewhere veryspecial - Belmont House, an 18th-centurymerchant's home restored for £1 millionand marketed through the Trust. SOUTHERNMOSTBroughton House and GardenThe former home of the artist EA Hornel issurrounded by a superb two-acre garden inKirkcudbright. It's in the middle of thetown, but at the southern edge of Scotland,its nearest Trust neighbours being ThreaveEstate, famed for its daffodils, andRockcliffe, a stretch of coast noted for birdsand wildflowers. At 54.8 degrees north,Broughton House is well south of severalproperties in England cared for by theNational Trust, such as Lindisfarne Castle,Dunstanburgh Castle and the Farne Islands. The influence of Hornel's journeys toJapan, Ceylon, Burma and Australia can beseen in the garden, which has a diversecollection of plants and vivid colours. lDiscoverExtremesOn the edge: Broughton House inKirkcudbright, left, and a puffin, one of the bird species that thrives on Unst

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