Linlithgow Palace and Linlithgow Loch

Linlithgow Palace, on the site of David's manor, dominates the surrounding countryside. An impressive ruin, ravaged by time and fire, it still exudes an air of dignified splendour - an appropriate birthplace for a queen. Few medieval Scottish buildings are on such a grand scale. Begun in 1425 for James I, it was completed over a century later by James IV and V.

Its halls and chambers, now roofless, surround a central quadrangle with a Gothic fountain, a wedding gift from James V to his queen, Mary of Guise. On 8 December 1542, Mary gave birth to a daughter at the palace. Six days later, her husband died and the tiny Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland.

Adjoining the palace is St Michael's Church, where Mary was baptised. A handsome building, it predates the palace. In 1645, when the plague raged in the capital, the University of Edinburgh held its classes here. Five years later, following the Battle of Dunbar, Oliver Cromwell's troops took possession of both the palace and the church, where they billeted the Roundhead army.

The Cross Well, a beautifully carved fountain that marks the site of the old market cross, was built single handedly by mason Robert Grey in 1806. He had only one hand, in which he held his chisel, while a mallet was strapped to the stump of the other arm. The square was the venue for public executions until the middle of the 19th century.

The route continues around the edges of Linlithgow Loch, one of only two natural lochs in the Lothians. These waters once played an important role in the leather trade. Cromwell's troops instructed the locals in the art of tanning, and by the 18th century there were 17 tanneries in Linlithgow Raw hides were soaked in a solution of loch water and oak bark to provide the necessary tannin.

Mute swans have nested on the banks of the loch for centuries and are still very much in evidence today. The cob's relatively large bill knob distinguishes him from the female, who carries her brood of cygnets on her back for the first weeks after hatching.

Linlithgow Loch provides an ideal habitat for reed buntings, sedge warblers, common sandpipers, coots, moorhens and a wide variety of extremely tame and vocal ducks. Great crested grebes provide the most fascinating spring spectacle, performing their elaborate courtship display, which includes head shaking and the presentation of water weeds, posturing high out of the water, their feet patter noisily on the surface of the loch.

From every viewpoint, the lovely ruin of the palace dominates the scene, evoking memories of one of the most controversial characters of Scottish history. Eventually exiled by her subjects, a victim of the ever changing fortunes of Scottish history. Mary Stuart left behind many enigmas. Her reign was the end of an era for Scotland - the end of independence - yet her memory lingers in art and literature, but most of all in Linlithgow, where she was born and began her brief reign.