Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
Gairloch is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch in Wester Ross, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. A tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a golf course, a museum, several hotels, a variety of shops, takeaway restaurants, a community centre, a leisure centre with sports facilities, a local radio station, beaches and nearby mountains. Gairloch is one of the principal villages on the North Coast 500 route.
Ullapool is a port and a village of around 1,500 inhabitants in Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands, located around 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Inverness. Despite its size it is the largest settlement for many miles around, and an important port and tourist destination. The North Atlantic Drift passes Ullapool, moderating the temperature. A few Cordyline australis are grown in the town and are often mistaken for palm trees.The town lies on Loch Broom, on the A835 road from Inverness. The Ullapool River flows through the village.
The shires of Scotland, or counties of Scotland, are historic subdivisions of Scotland established in the Middle Ages and used as administrative divisions until 1975. Originally established for judicial purposes, from the 17th century they started to be used for local administration purposes as well. The areas used for judicial functions (sheriffdoms) came to diverge from the shires, which ceased to be used for local government purposes after 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
Sutherland is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire to the south and the Atlantic to the north and west. Like its southern neighbour Ross-shire, Sutherland has some of the most dramatic scenery in the whole of Europe, especially on its western fringe where the mountains meet the sea. These include high sea cliffs, and very old mountains composed of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks.
Ross and Cromarty, sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latter of which is 8,019 square kilometres in extent. Historically there has also been a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a local government county, a district of the Highland local government region and a management area of the Highland Council. The local government county is now divided between two local government areas: the Highland area and Na h-Eileanan Siar. Ross and Cromarty border Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south.
Caithness is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Skye and Lochalsh is one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region of Scotland. The main offices of the Skye and Lochalsh district council were in Portree, on the Isle of Skye.
Bunessan is a small village on the Ross of Mull in the south-west of the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland. The settlement is within the parish of Kilfinichen and Kilvickeon, and is situated on the A849.
Wester Ross is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to the west of the main watershed of Ross, thus forming the western half of the county of Ross and Cromarty. The southwesternmost part of Ross and Cromarty, Lochalsh, is not considered part of Wester Ross by the local tourist organisation, Visit Wester Ross, but is included within the definition used for the Wester Ross Biosphere Reserve.
Easter Ross is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.
The villages of Inverallochy and Cairnbulg lie some four miles east of Fraserburgh, in North East Scotland.
Comrie is a village and parish in the southern Highlands of Scotland, towards the western end of the Strathearn district of Perth and Kinross, 7 mi (11 km) west of Crieff. Comrie is a historic conservation village in a national scenic area around the river Earn. Its position on the Highland Boundary Fault accounts for it having more earth tremors than anywhere else in Britain. The parish is twinned with Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada.
Achnasheen is a small village in Ross-shire in the Highland council area of Scotland.
Burnmouth is a small fishing village located adjacent to the A1 road on the east coast of Scotland. It is the first village in Scotland on the A1, after crossing the border with England. Burnmouth is located in the Parish of Ayton, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland and governed by Scottish Borders Council.
Evanton is a small village in Easter Ross, in the Highland Council Area of Scotland. It lies between the River Sgitheach and the Allt Graad, is 24 kilometres (15 mi) north of Inverness, some 6.5 km (4.0 mi) south-west of Alness, and 10 km (6.2 mi) northeast of Dingwall.
Ross-shire is a historic county in the Scottish Highlands. The county borders Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire – a county consisting of numerous enclaves or exclaves scattered throughout Ross-shire's territory. Ross-shire includes most of Ross along with Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Dingwall is the traditional county town. The area of Ross-shire is based on that of the historic province of Ross, but with the exclusion of the many enclaves that form Cromartyshire.
The Ross of Mull is the largest peninsula of the Isle of Mull, about 28 kilometres (17 mi) long, and makes up the south-western part of the island. It is bounded to the north by Loch Scridain and to the south by the Firth of Lorne. The main villages are Bunessan and Fionnphort, with smaller settlements including Ardtun, Camas, Carsaig, Knockan, Pennyghael and Uisken. Knocknafenaig, Suidhe, and Shiaba are three of the many cleared settlements on the Ross.
Caithness, Sutherland and Ross is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Shiaba is a ruined township located on the southwestern peninsula of the Isle of Mull, Scotland. It lies about 8 km to the east of the village of Bunessan, beyond Loch Assapol and Scoor House. It was awarded the status of Scheduled monument in 1993 due to its significance as a source of information about 18th and 19th century rural life in Scotland.
