Kinross, United Kingdom

Kinross is a small town in Perth and Kinross, 13 miles south of Perth. With a population of 5100 (in 2016), it stands on the shores of Loch Leven, with the scarp of the Lomond Hills looming to the east and a mysterious giant golf ball to the west. The reason to visit is to take the boat across the loch to the island castle, where Mary Queen of Scots was held captive but escaped. Another island in the loch may be the place where Macbeth's theatrical fate was first set down.

The Lomond Hills are volcanic crags that force the route from the Fife coast (nowadays the M90) to pass this way before crossing the Ochil hills towards Perth. Kinross thus grew up as a market town in a fertile lowland plain. From 1890 it was the county town of the small county of Kinross-shire. In 1927 the county council adopted the sturdy slogan “For all time”, which turned out to mean until 1930 when they were amalgamated with Perthshire.