Tradespeople in Kingussie, Highland

Kingussie is a small town of around 1,500 people in upper Strathspey, sitting in the shadow of the Cairngorms about 12 miles south-west of Aviemore.

It is best known as the home of the Highland Folk Museum, the first open-air museum in Britain and as one half of the oldest shinty rivalry in the sport - the annual Kingussie versus Newtonmore match is a fixture of Highland life.

The town has a quiet, well-maintained High Street with a few shops, hotels and restaurants and serves as a base for exploring the Cairngorms National Park, the Monadhliath mountains to the north and the RSPB Insh Marshes reserve nearby.

Kingussie is on the Highland Main Line railway and the A9, making it accessible from Inverness, Perth and Edinburgh. Its setting - between the Cairngorms and the Monadhliaths in the broad Spey valley - is among the most scenic of any Scottish town.

(opens in new tab)

Highland is the largest council area in Scotland by land mass, covering more than 25,000 square kilometres from the Cairngorms in the east to the Atlantic coast in the west and from the Moray Firth northward to the tip of mainland Britain at Dunnet Head.

The region takes in an extraordinary range of landscapes - the Great Glen, Ben Nevis, Loch Ness, the Cairngorm plateau, the Flow Country peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland and hundreds of miles of rugged coastline dotted with fishing villages and sea lochs.

Inverness is the regional capital and the largest settlement, serving as the administrative, commercial and transport hub for the entire north of Scotland. Beyond Inverness, the population is spread across market towns and remote communities - Fort William beneath Ben Nevis, Aviemore in the Cairngorms, Thurso and Wick on the north coast, Nairn on the Moray Firth, Dingwall in Easter Ross and dozens of smaller settlements connected by single-track roads and ferry services.

Despite its remoteness, Highland has a diverse economy built on tourism, whisky distilling, renewable energy, forestry, aquaculture and a growing digital sector enabled by improving broadband connectivity. The region's cultural identity is deeply rooted in Gaelic language and tradition, clan history and a strong sense of place that draws visitors and new residents alike.

Transport links converge on Inverness, with the A9 running south to Perth, the A96 east to Aberdeen, rail services to Edinburgh, Glasgow and London and an airport at Dalcross. The more remote communities depend on trunk roads, the scenic rail lines to Kyle of Lochalsh, Wick and Thurso and the ferry services that connect the west coast to the islands.