THIS IS KILMARTIN GLEN. Located on our west coast, this whole area is one of the best locations for ancient Celtic and Scottish history anywhere in Scotland.

Our tours visit here as often as we can, the whole place is full of history, walk up to it and touch 5000 years of our past. Not only standing stones but burial cairns, a ruined hilltop fort, Knights Templar graves, old Kirk and graveyard with tomb stones carved from as early as 14 century. Kilmartin Glen is the broad area surrounding the village of Kilmartin north of Lochgilphead and south of Oban. The Glen is famous for its rich historical legacy. There are at least 350 ancient monuments within six miles of the village, of which around 150 are prehistoric. They include burial cairns, rock carvings, and standing stones, as well as the remains of the fortress of the Scots at Dunadd and three more recent castles.

From the Nether Largie Stones it is only a short walk to Temple Wood, complete with, arguably, three stone circles. This is cheating slightly. There is a large ring to the south and a much smaller one with only a few stone to the north. The third ring is concentric with the first and contained within it, surrounding a stone slab-sided cairn at its centre. The earliest stones in the circles date back to around 3000BC and the circles were gradually added to and improved over the following 2000 years. The trees are a more recent addition by our Victorian ancestors, who felt they gave the stone circles more atmosphere. They also bestowed on the place the name of Temple or Half Moon Wood.  Completing a circuit back towards your car brings you to Nether Largie South Cairn, a large cairn with impressive views north to Kilmartin itself. However, the cairn predates the village by some margin, being built in about 3000-2500BC. The fact that the central chamber of the cairn is open gives the setting a slightly spooky air, but it does help give an impression of the internal construction. See also Carnasserie Castle, superb!