Scotland is internationally famous for its dramatic and unspoilt scenery - its bare mountain tops, fjord-like sea lochs and scatter of islands draw visitors from all over the world. the National Trust for Scotland looks after some of the most outstanding examples of these wild landscapes. Some of its first acquisitions, back in the 1930s, secured wild places, such as Burg on Mull and Glencoe, for the nation.

The acquisition of Glencoe was made possible through the personal generosity of the then president of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, Percy Unna. Unna laid down a number of guidelines that the Trust should apply in managing its wild mountain areas: he stated that all such land should be held on behalf of the public and that the Trust should undertake that the land be maintained in its primitive condition for all time with unrestricted access to the public. His underlying philosophy was that the hills should not be in any way made easier or safer, given that people 'get away from it all' into the countryside to find inspiration and challenge, in contrast to their ordered day-to-day lives.

The Trust has more recently developed Unna's thinking into a Wild Land Policy. Wild land is defined as being 'relatively remote and inaccessible, not noticeably affected by contemporary human activity, and offering high-quality opportunities to escape from the pressures of everyday living and to find spiritual and physical refreshment'. This policy identifies particular aspects of a place that enhance this wildness, and some indeed that detract from it. A sense of remoteness, scenic grandeur, solitude, peace and quietness and particularly an absence of contemporary human development all add to the wild character of a place. On the other hand recent signs of human activity, particularly man in charge of nature, presence of crowds or group activity, unsympathetic recreation, and manmade noise all detract from the wild character of a place.

The Trust is committed to preserving the wild character of its many highland mountainous properties and demonstrates this by resisting any new developments that might undermine this quality and indeed restoring or removing features that might detract from the wildness of any of its properties. A very good example of this has been the recent removal of the Beinn a'Bhuird track on Mar Lodge Estate, a case study which is described elsewhere.

Wildness can be found in greater or lesser degree in all parts of Scotland. Whilst attention invariably focuses on our rugged mountain and seascape in the north-west highlands, the Trust has in its care many other properties demonstrating lesser degrees of wildness; for instance the Berwickshire coastline around St Abb's Head continues to offer a relatively challenging recreational experience close to large centres of population and the Trust is keen not to see this special quality undermined by insensitive recreational development.

To find out more please click on the Trust Policies