A beautiful UK village is surrounded by mountains and accessible by train. Garve is a village on the Black Water River, five miles northwest of Contin in Highland, Scotland.
The quiet and remote village is made up of small stone cottages with neat gardens tucked behind low stone walls. Garve is named after the nearby loch and sits beside the mountain Ben Wyvis. It is a large winding and undulating ridge running roughly north–south for about 5km, the highest point of which is Glas Leathad Mòr at 1,046 metres. The mountain is prominent in views of the area, presenting a whale-back shape above the farmland of Strathconon. Ben Wyvis is an important habitat for several plant and bird species and is designated as a National Nature Reserve, a Special Protection Area, a Special Area of Conservation, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Just down the road is Wade’s Bridge, part of a military road built between Contin and Poolewe around 250 years ago.
The nearby Rogie Falls are a series of stunning waterfalls (the highest being 30ft) on the Black Water, accessed by a short and easy forest walk.
There is a suspension bridge where visitors can watch salmon swim upstream in late summer as they head to their spawning grounds.
Also close to Garve is Castle Leod, the seat of the Clan Mackenzie. It is an A-listed building, and the grounds are in the national listing of significant gardens. The castle remains home to the Earl of Cromartie and is open to the public on a limited number of days.
Castle Leod is widely considered to be the inspiration behind Castle Leoch, the seat and home of the laird of Clan Mackenzie, in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander historical fiction series.
The surrounding area is rich in history, with Culloden Moor, the site of the last pitched battle on British soil, just 24 miles away.
And just 29 miles away is Loch Ness, the large freshwater lake best known for claimed sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster.
Garve is accessible by ScotRail train from Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh, which run about four times a day. Visitors can also travel there by car via the A835.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
