An event that takes place during the depths of winter in the very northernmost reach of the British Isles, Up Helly Aa is a fiery festival that celebrates some of the customs brought to the Shetland I

The Braemar hills are alive with the sound of bagpipes as Kyle Randalls, a 6-foot 5” (196cm), 22-stone (139kg) strongman from Falkirk, prepares to throw a 22lb (9.9kg) hammer across the arena. Stood a

The poor citizens of Al-Jazira al-Khadra never knew what hit them. In 859, an unfamiliar fleet sailed into the bay separating this Muslim settlement – which later evolved into the city of Algeciras, n

Anyone who’s read Helen Macdonald’s remarkable memoir H is for Hawk – about grief, nature and training a goshawk – will be aware of its powerful impact. The book has now been turned into a film starri

From you to us

Guess where we went last summer? A two-week tour that took in the UK’s first Dark Sky Park, as well as its largest forest, the world’s smallest post office, the First World War’s largest munitions fac