A place of a thousand places. Scotland showcases all that the world has to offer, squeezed into rugged coastlines, scattered islands, and peaks that begin to challenge even the most professional climbers.

My love for this country begins at the border. When you cross into Scotland, the landscape changes from generic grass to purple heathland. As you look beyond the horizon, you see daisy chains of mountains that tease your curiosity and make you wonder "what's over there".

The A74M offers me a direct route into South Scotland's urban corridor of Glasgow and Edinburgh, but there is an hour's worth of "ooooh", "aaaaah", "wooooow" if you turn left at the A701 before you reach the bright lights of Edinburgh. From U-shaped valleys, long meandering rivers, sickening cliff drops, to sharp bends that present you with vast open areas, this route makes you forget you are in Britain.

Edinburgh. I wholeheartedly hold this city on a pedestal.

If there is any place that I would want to escape to, it is Edinburgh. I feel safe, I feel relaxed, I feel welcome. And for a capital city, that's quite impressive. Make no mistake, the pictures will show you a city that looks like it's stuck in the middle of the last millennium, and you'd think it impossible for high-speed mobility, given the extinct volcanoes that scar Edinburgh's landscape - but this is a city well equipped with technology that works around the existing concrete fabric and not the other way around.

Beyond. As you travel deep into the interior, Scotland becomes a sanctuary to nature. It's an escape from all that makes our Isles loud and aggressive. It offers thick forests that stretch beyond comprehension, tranquil deep open lochs that hold geological, ecological, and anthropological secrets, reasonably sized metropolis' on the periphery that keep the hustle and bustle at bay, but unrestricted access at all times.

To the west. Scotland spills into the Atlantic, and good thing to. Without these, the power of the ocean will not apologise for eating away at the coast, nor will the bite of the Arctic cold stop at white sheeting the rest of the country to the south. The islands offer protection that we, down here in England and Wales, would do well to appreciate.

Arran. When you step foot off the ferry at Blackwaterfoot, you step back in time, and there is no other way to describe this. From friendly faces to a bus or two that run every hour, maybe two, maybe not, this tiny island offers you an escape where even espionage services would struggle to hunt for you.

Arran doesn't quite feel like Scotland, but more "island-life", and anyone who understands this concept knows that islanders dance to the beat of their own drum - something that feels quite at home to me, growing up in a Caribbean house. If you want quick access to the nearest city, takeaway services, or just the WiFi, then Arran is not for you, and for the sake of its untouched beauty, I hope it stays that way.

Departure. When I leave, there is a sadness. Perhaps it is knowing what I return to, or perhaps it is a case of holiday blues, or the two are in conjunction, but I feel free here - and that is why I return.

Author bio - Dan trained as a Geography Teacher in East London, then Essex, and left the industry in Lincolnshire, approaching 10 years later. Founder of The Soman Studio, which is a small business that crafts resin products at the moment and is supported by Amy Soman, the founder of Fake it and Bloom, Dan uses inspirations from places visited around the world to style the different collections in The Studio.