0:06:50 > 0:06:57.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Can I introduce you to some old friends of mine?
0:07:18 > 0:07:21This is Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Of course, they are the heroes of the Beatrix Potter children's books,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Tales of Peter Rabbit.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32And while the Lake District in Cumbria would lay claim to ownership of Beatrix Potter,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36it was actually here in the village of Birnam where the young Beatrix
0:07:36 > 0:07:38used to come for long summer holidays,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41that she became interested in rabbits and the natural world.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45And, indeed, wrote her first picture letter, if you like,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48with the stories of Peter Rabbit.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52And not very far away from here, along the River Tay at Dalguise,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55she became friends with the washerwoman, a Mrs Kitty MacDonald.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58She was later fictionalised as Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11I've come here this morning to climb a wee hill
0:08:11 > 0:08:14that's become a real favourite of mine over the years.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Birnam Hill is only 1,300 feet in height,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18but it is a great walk nevertheless.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21And not only does it have associations with Beatrix Potter,
0:08:21 > 0:08:26but many of you will recognise it from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Look at that! You'd think somebody had just
0:08:44 > 0:08:48unzipped the outer bark and it's all sort of flowing out.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51And when you see things like that, you realise how
0:08:51 > 0:08:53the young Beatrix Potter's imagination
0:08:53 > 0:08:57was stimulated by sights like this one.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13For my sins, I have to travel between Badenoch in the Highlands
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and Glasgow two or three times a week. Quite often,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19in the summer particularly, I like to drive off the A9,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22park in Birnam and just climb Birnam Hill.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27It's a lovely leg stretch for the long, balmy nights of summer.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Even here in the middle of winter, when the high tops,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33like today, are stormy-bound, it's a great wee hill.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Great views both to the north and to the flatter lands of the south.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41But there's something else too about this hill, particularly these woods,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45there is a very real atmosphere of antiquity.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48I sometimes wonder whether it's that same atmosphere
0:09:48 > 0:09:53that inspired William Shakespeare when he passed through here in 1601.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Terrific view from here!
0:10:16 > 0:10:19The trees all along the east side of Birnam Hill
0:10:19 > 0:10:21are on the site of the ancient Birnam Woods,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26the subject of the witches' prophecy in Macbeth.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30"Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane
0:10:30 > 0:10:32"Shall come against him."
0:10:32 > 0:10:34And down below me here,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39I reckon was possibly the site of the last camp of Malcolm,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43son of Duncan, and Macduff, the Thane of Fife,
0:10:43 > 0:10:48before they set out to high Dunsinane and the historical defeat of Macbeth.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50And, by my reckoning, Dunsinane Hill
0:10:50 > 0:10:55is away on the horizon in the Sidlaw Hills, just north of Dundee.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12It's always good to get above the trees, to get this side of the forest,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15where you begin to get some of the views opening up,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18a bit of expansiveness. You can see right across the floodplain
0:11:18 > 0:11:22of the River Tay away across to the hills over yonder.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27It is just absolutely superb, you get this sort of spaciousness,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30even on a wee hill walk like this one, it's absolutely terrific.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40It's hard work in the snow!
0:11:40 > 0:11:42But when you come up to this little final bit,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45up a wee gulley that takes you on to the summit plateau,
0:11:45 > 0:11:51there is something like 160 wooden steps to help you up there.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56I'm never very sure if wooden steps help you or deter you!
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Anyway, they're mostly covered in snow today, so it doesn't really matter.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16Well, this is the summit of Birnam Hill,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19mapped on the map as King's Seat.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21I'm not sure what King it's referring to,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25whether it's King Duncan, King Malcolm, or maybe Macbeth himself.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28The remarkable thing is people drive right past this hill
0:12:28 > 0:12:30and Edinburgh is just over an hour away,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Glasgow is just over an hour away, Dundee is less than an hour away,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37these great centres of population. And it's remarkable too
0:12:37 > 0:12:41that it's right in the line of the geological faultline that runs across Scotland
0:12:41 > 0:12:44from the south end of Loch Lomond up to Stonehaven.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46And if you look right along this line,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49you can see the mosaic of fields and forests,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and then the sudden swell of the Highlands as it becomes the Highland hills.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56So, it's a great wee walk.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58It doesn't matter if you're into Beatrix Potter or not,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02or William Shakespeare or not, it's still a grand walk.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05And, I have to confess, I prefer Rabbie Burns...