5 weird and wonderful places to visit in Scotland

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation covers 30 acres and was designed with the fundamentals of modern physics in mind. Here are twisting DNA helix sculptures, undulating waves of flowers and snail-shaped mounds covered in grass. Charles Jencks, an architect theorist and his late wife, Maggie Keswick who was an expert on Chinese Gardens designed this at their private home to bring out the basic elements that underlie the cosmos.

Camera Obscura and the World of Illusions has been going for more than 150 years. It is partly a learning centre but also a funhouse and it spreads over five floors of the building. The rooftop terrace gives a 360-degree panoramic view of the city via the Camera Obscura. The other floors are filled with puzzles, optical illusions, a vortex tunnel and mirror mazes, giving visitors a mixtures of tricks of the mind and eyes and alternate realities.

The Fairy Pools are only accessible on foot through the Glen Brittle forest on the Isle of Skye. The collection of crystal-clear, turquoise pools is fed by a series of waterfalls at the foot of the Cuillin Mountains. They are considered to be among the most pristine swimming holes in the world.

Staying with fairies and all things beautiful, Faerie Glen is also on the Isle of Skye and legends say faeries may have created its dramatic and beautiful landscape. With a series of unusual geological formations and human placed stones, it does indeed look fairylike. However, reportedly the landscape was formed by a landslip, which also happened at the nearby Quiraing.

The unusual geological formation of Fingal’s Cave has been an inspiration to many, including Queen Victoria, Jules Verne, Matthew Barney and the band Pink Floyd. Many other authors, poets and celebrities have visited this amazing cave. The cave is 270 ft deep and 72 ft in height, with hexagonal columns of basalt, neatly shaped into six-sided pillars, forming a crude walkway allowing visitors to explore inside.