morning sun tries to punch through cloud and mist around the Ochil Hills near Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Viewed from Gean House.

Photographed from Gean House gardens.

Ochil Hills (Scottish Gaelic: Monadh Ochail - from a Celtic word root, compare Old Welsh uchel meaning 'high') is a range of hills in Scotland north of the Forth valley bordered by the towns of Stirling, Alloa, Kinross, Auchterarder and Perth. The only major roads crossing the hills pass through Glen Devon/Glen Eagles and Glenfarg, the latter now largely replaced except for local traffic by the M90 Edinburgh-Perth motorway cutting through the eastern foothills. The hills are part of a Devonian lava extrusion whose appearance today is largely due to the Ochil Fault which results in the southern face of the hills forming an escarpment. The plateau is undulating with no prominent peak, the highest point being Ben Cleuch at 721 m The south-flowing burns have cut deep ravines including Dollar Glen, Silver Glen and Alva Glen, often only passable with the aid of wooden walkways. Historically, the hills, combined with the town being built at the lowest bridge-point on the River Forth, led to Stirling's importance as a main gateway to the Highlands. They also acted as a boundary to the Kingdom of Fife. Castle Campbell was built at the head of Dollar Glen in the late 15th century (an earlier castle on the site being called "Castle Gloom") mainly as a very visible symbol of the Campbell domination of the area. Sheriffmuir, the site of the 1715 battle of the Jacobite rising is on the northern slopes of the hills. In the early Industrial Revolution, several mill towns such as Tillicoultry, Alva and Menstrie (the Hillfoots Villages) grew up in the shadow of the Ochils to tap the water power. Some of the mills are open today as museums. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochil_Hills

Alloa (Scottish Gaelic: Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, on the north bank of the Firth of Forth close to the foot of the Ochil Hills 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east of Stirling and 7.9 miles (12.7 km) north of Falkirk. The town, formerly a burgh of barony, is the administrative centre of Clackmannanshire council. The economy relied heavily on trade through its port with mainland Europe, but competition from modern ports saw it close in 1970. The economy is now centred on retail and leisure after the closure of major industries; only one brewer and one glassmaker survive today. Alloa had a population of 18,989 at the 2001 census. Sir Robert Erskine was granted the lands of Alloa and its environs in 1368 for services to King David II and he and his descendants were good stewards, developing the estates and innovating. The Earl of Mar owned many of the coal mines, and Robert Bald, a local mining engineer, was contracted to provide water power from the Gartmorn Dam to operate the mines and other industries. Good water supplies and the availability of barley from the carselands encouraged George Younger to set up a brewery in the 1760s and he was soon followed by others. Alloa became one of Scotland's premier brewing centres. Unfortunately, the 6th Earl of Mar, who oversaw many far-reaching developments including substantial harbour improvements, a customs house and the building of the Gartmorn Dam, was forced to flee the country and forfeit his lands after disastrously backing the Jacobite cause in 1715. However, his brother was allowed to purchase the forfeited lands and future generations continued the tradition of creative industry by launching a glass-works in 1750 and laying one of Scotland's earliest railways (a waggonway) from the Sauchie mines to down to the harbour in around 1766. Before 1775, the colliers were attached to the properties in which they were born and were virtual serfs or slaves, supported by the master. After an Act of Parliament which abolished the system, the colliers could move between collieries at will, and they were supported in their needs by the Alloa Colliers' Fund or Friendly Society which was founded in 1775. Traces of the waggonway and the Gartmorn Dam can still be seen today, and although the dam is no longer used for energy production or water supply, it is well used for fishing and leisure purposes. The Clackmannashire Library was founded at Alloa in 1797 and it contained upwards of 1500 volumes. After the improvements were made to the harbour during the 18th century, Alloa thrived as a river port through which the products of Glasgow manufacture were exported to continental Europe. At that time, and until the 1950s, the main industry to the north and east of the town was coal mining. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloa
solid walls and warm panelling, generous fireplaces and tall windows the house embraces its visitors and breathes Edwardian comfort. Gean House was built in 1912 by local architect William Kerr in the style of Sir Edward Lutyens. Softer and less formal than a grand Victorian mansion, it bears all the distinctive features of Arts & Crafts design. It's a romantic building whose lines echo those of its natural surroundings, the wooded grounds and nearby Ochil Hills. But the romance is not just in the architecture. Gean House was a wedding present from the woollen yarn magnate Alexander Forrester-Paton to his son. The love and care that went into every smallest detail is still present in the quiet luxury of the rooms, in the seclusion and tranquillity of the garden and grounds. www.geanhouse.co.uk/gean-wedding-venue-alloa.html

Taken in: United Kingdom / Scotland / Inglewood (show map)

Taken on: August 26, 2017

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Camera: Canon EOS 7D, f/8.0, 6 sec, 110mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 7D
Lens:	TAMRON 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD B016
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	6
Focal Length:	110mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto bracket
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 (Macintosh)
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