SKARA BRAE, 
near Stromness, Orkney Islands,01856 841815
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

Skara Brae is a Stone Age village which was (re)discovered in 1850. Orkney has many superb ancient monuments from neolithic times but the incredibly well preserved remains of this village from about 5,000 years ago is the most impressive of them all. Skara Brae is about 1,000 years older than Stonehenge. How often can you take a time trip back to the Stone Age?

 CALLANISH STONES,
Callanish, Isle of Lewis heritage.scotsman.com/places.

These standing stones on the wild, windswept, west coast of Lewis date back to about 2000BC. Where did they come from, why were they built - these are questions to which no-one knows the answer. Magnificently atmospheric especially under a clear night sky.

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A mile or so from Glenelg village, along a single track road looking across the sea to Skye, lie the Glenelg Brochs. Brochs are fortified conical towers, which tended to be built along the Atlantic coast and on the western and northern Islands. Those at Glenelg date back to about 500BC.

 CLAVA CAIRNS,
Inverness-shire, 01667 460232,
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

These ancient burial chambers and associated standing stones are not much more than a mile from Culloden battlefield. It is thought that they date back to about 2000BC. How powerful must those buried here have been to have merited such an impressive final resting place?

 HADRIAN'S WALL,
www.hadrians-wall.orgorwhc.unesco.org/sites/430.htm

Stretches from the Solway Firth to the Tyne. Not stricly in Scotland but near enough to allow us to "borrow" it! Built around 120AD, parts of it remain in impressive condition today, 1,900 years later. This signalled the end of the Roman World. Scotland, Wild Caledonia, really was "The Land Beyond the Roman Empire".