Love Scotland: Stories of Scotland's History and Nature

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, 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.

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.

Welcome to a new series of Love Scotland.

In this week’s episode, Jackie is joined by Professor Dauvit Broun of the University of Glasgow to discuss the life of Robert the Bruce.

Robert, King of Scots from 1306-1329, led a fascinating life full of changing allegiances, shifting power and military victories.

How much of our common understanding of this Scottish ruler is based in fact? What motivated him to switch sides, on several occasions, in the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries? And why has his legacy had such a lasting effect on the nation’s history?

Next week, Jackie and Dauvit continue their conversation, charting the events that followed Bannockburn.

To find out more about visiting Bannockburn, click here.

Host Jackie Bird is joined by curator Antonia Laurence-Allan and historian Sally Tuckett to discuss all things 18th-century fashion. Recorded inside the Georgian House, just days before the exhibition Ramsay & Edinburgh Fashion opened its doors, the trio talk about the artist Allan Ramsay and the women behind the paintings.

What was life like for someone at the centre of the Scottish Enlightenment? Who were his patrons? And what do his paintings tell us about the role of fashion among the Georgian movers and shakers?

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

For more information on the Georgian House, click here. Or click here for more on the 2024 exhibition.

We would like to thank those who have supported the Ramsay and Edinburgh Fashion exhibition, including The American Friends of British Art, NTS Foundation USA, The Real Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh NTS Members’ Centre, and donors in memory of the Duchess of Buccleuch.