Clear light, bare trees and solitude make for memorable winter experiences, as our tipsters found from Northern Ireland to northern Italy
My favourite winter landscape is the woodland at Mugdock country park north of Glasgow. I’d recommend April to see the bluebells lit up by the sun and autumn to see red deer tiptoeing through the thicket. But winter is the time to see the trees – their gnarled, twisted, moss-covered branches reaching out in every direction to grab at you. Even on a clear December day there’s a darkness. Battles were fought here between the Picts and the Britons, and witches were drowned in the lake. It may sound like fantasy film but step off the path into the trees and it’s not hard to imagine.
Marie