#baldernock

#baldernock

Highland cows are a tough and hardy breed known for their shaggy coat and upturned horns. They were brought in to restore and maintain the reserve through wild grazing.

"If I'm being completely honest, I knew I was going to have to be in this camp to have a real chance of going to the World Cup. I set myself targets and goals and I really did commit to the process ever since November, using it as fuel to make sure I got into this one."

Achaphubuil, a tiny hamlet, is surrounded by mountains and ancient forest, making it an ideal location for artists seeking beauty, privacy, and peace.

As the dust settles on the demolition of the Murray house in Bohermeen, near Navan, Co Meath, it is hard to find someone in the town who has not seen the pictures of the flattened property or heard the story of the long-running planning debacle.

The early morning sun is bursting around the dark corners of High Dodd and Sleet Fell, sending a flush of light across the golden bracken and on to the hammered silver of the lake.

A remote Donegal parish and its Gaeilgeoir priest became near household names last year when the nation awoke on Easter Monday to learn St Mary's Church in Derrybeg had burnt to the ground overnight.

Island communities have long experienced mobile coverage challenges, and addressing total not-spots is a key focus of the £1.3bn Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme. Launched in 2020, the SRN is a joint initiative between the government and the UK's mobile network operators - EE and Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), as well as Three and Vodafone before their merger - to extend 4G connectivity to 95% of the UK's landmass by the end of 2025.

Please do enjoy walking around the site, but just give them some space. We're asking people to remember that these are not pets - they are conservation grazers doing an important job. Jessica Allam, Senior Wilder Grazing Ranger at Kent Wildlife Trust, emphasizes the need for visitors to respect the animals' boundaries and understand their conservation role.

You would have to have known Gwen to know that she would have done whatever trying to protect the children in her care. She paid the ultimate price for that commitment. Finally, we now feel that she has been honoured for what happened that day.

The Grade II listed building is on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register and is currently recorded as being in poor condition. The national Marine Society and Sea Cadets (MSSC), which held the lease, has confirmed that it can no longer meet the building's repair obligations and will surrender the lease so that restoration can be carried out by new occupants.

The event was the following day: we had 250 tickets sold, we'd done so many rehearsals, and inside there were lighting rigs, performers' equipment, shop stock. It was truly heartbreaking. So many businesses lost so much money and time, and now the loss of the space itself is having a huge impact on the wider community.

We're miles ahead. The board reckoned, if we could get there in five years, to the Premiership, that would be an achievement. We managed to do it quicker. A lot of hard work. Some good recruitment. Some good personalities in the dressing room. Some togetherness. Punching above our weight most of the time.

It was a Saturday in February 2020 when the flood came. It had been a wet winter, so wet it seemed that before the month was out, the brown trout of the River Taff might be washed clean out into Cardiff Bay before the fishing season had even begun. But this is Wales. People are used to a spot of rain.

"I liked our last holiday house better," announces my niece on arrival at Gairnsheil Lodge's Laggan Cottage in the Scottish Highlands. The thing about six-year-olds is that they famously have very little taste, and this isn't the first thing we've disagreed on (other topics include bedtimes, what constitutes 'dinner' and how often you should brush your hair). You'd think for someone who was being treated to a bucket list holiday she'd have a little more respect.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

When Desmond Courtney bought The Schoolmaster's House in Ireland's horse heartland in 2002, he turned it into a "bachelor pad". The civil engineer did most of the restoration of the property himself, with some help from friends. After nearly two decades of living there alone, a random reunification with his long-lost love Monica (née Barron) transformed his life and his Kildare home.

Some of the best hotels in Scotland exist outside of the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow -but that's not to say you can't find somewhere exceptional to stay wherever you wish to lay your head across the country. Whether you're looking for a cosmopolitan city break or hoping to explore Scotland's stunning coastline on the road trip of a lifetime, there's somewhere stunning for any type of traveler.

The Traitors, and its stunning home in Scotland's Ardross Castle, returned to our screens on New Year's Day 2026 for a highly anticipated fourth run. The latest series follows the runaway success of The Celebrity Traitors in autumn 2025, where the UK was gripped by a host of household names entering the now-instantly-recognisable property to scheme, plot and accuse each other of being a traitor.

Scotland's Knoydart peninsula is sometimes called Britain's "last wilderness." The land juts out between Loch Nevis and Loch Hourn-that's "Loch Heaven" and "Loch Hell," respectively-and has no through roads, no connections to the U.K.'s road network. What few locals live here, in the craggy Highlands of the west coast, get around on foot, by boat, or drive between their tiny communities down narrow lanes. They help each other with whatever resources they have.

Architecture Office founder Alexander Mackison and glass artist Juli Bolaños-Durman had something of a creative meet-cute. The two became acquainted while running a lecture series at Custom Lane, a collaborative center for designers and makers in Edinburgh, where they both have studios. They remained friendly, so Alexander eventually learned of Juli's plans to renovate an apartment nearby. "Just through casual conversations, I became integrated into the project," he remembers.

The best places to visit in May take advantage of that elusive window of perfect weather as spring turns to summer, when it's not too hot and it's not too cold-all you need is a light jacket. That frees up essential space in our carry-ons (big puffy jackets and thermal leggings can stay home, finally), creating more room for souvenirs from wherever we may go.

Selina Hales has a thing about pineapples. She is talking in a quiet office, set aside from the bustle of Refuweegee, the charity she founded 10 years ago, and the walls are festooned with tissue paper cutouts of the fruit, which is an international symbol of hospitality. Refuweegee its name a combination of the words refugee and Weegee, local slang for Glaswegian has expanded exponentially over the decade into an operation that supports hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees in the city every day.