Six Scottish landmarks chasing Countryfile awards

January 16, 2020 | Uncategorized

You have your chance to vote for your favourite Scottish landmarks in the 2020 Countryfile Awards.

BBC Countryfile Magazine has announced a shortlist of mighty landmarks, outstanding national parks, beautiful nature reserves and stunning coastlines from around the UK, for the ninth BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2020, which celebrate the best of the British countryside and its people.

This year, there is a new award to vote for – Green Attraction of the Year. The shortlist, which includes Scottish locations, is now open to the public vote.

Scotland has secured six nominations this year. The impressive cliff and rock formations of Orkney has been awarded with a nomination for Holiday Destination of the Year, while the Cairngorms with its fantastic mountainscapes and rich wildlife has earned a nod for National Park of the Year.

There’s nominations for the Kelpies of Falkirk, Andy Scott’s 30m-tall horse-head sculptures on the Forth and Clyde, and McCaig’s Tower in Oban for Landmark of the Year, and the beautiful Mersehead in Dumfries has been nominated in the Nature Reserve of the Year category. The Isle of Eigg, a beautiful, wildlife-rich Hebridean island owned entirely by its community in the Inner Hebrides has been nominated in the new category, Green Attraction of the Year.

McCaig’s Tower in Oban (Photo: Susanne Pommer / Shutterstock)

To create the nominations shortlist, BBC Countryfile Magazine put together an expert judging panel, with a wide and comprehensive range of expertise, including Countryfile presenter Tom Heap; BBC Countryfile Magazine Online Editor Carys Matthews; historian and TV and radio presenter Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough; Travel Writer Dixie Wills, Andrew Hall from the Campaign for National Parks, and travel writer and explorer Phoebe Smith.

For 2020, the panel examined the nine categories, from Wildlife Success Story to Best National Park, but focusing on possible entrants that demonstrated their commitment to protect the environment and work sustainably.

Panelist and Countryfile presenter Tom Heap said: ‘I see a lot of the country in my job but judging these awards really opened my eyes to further beauty spots and admirable green schemes. So much more to discover!’

Editor of BBC Countryfile Magazine Fergus Collins added: ‘This is probably the strongest line up yet in the eight years we have been running these awards. Our expert judging panel spent many hours honing the contenders and we ended up with shortlists that truly celebrate the best of the British countryside. Now it’s the turn of magazine readers and countryfile.com visitors to vote on the best of the best.’

The BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2020 shortlist is –

Scapa Beach, in Orkney, (Photo: James Grieve)

Holiday Destination of the Year 2020

· Anglesey
· Isle of Wight
· Severn Valley
· Essex
· Orkney

Garden of the Year 2020

· Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park Yorkshire Dales
· Hill Close Garden, Warwickshire
· Powis Castle Gardens, Powys
· Alnwick Garden Poison, Garden Northumberland
· Tresco Abbey Garden, Isles of Scilly

Coire an t-Sneachda in summer, one of the Cairngorms’ northern corries (Photo: R Scott/Shutterstock)

National Park of the Year 2020

· Yorkshire Dales
· Snowdonia
· South Downs
· Cairngorms
· Northumberland

Beach of the Year 2020

· Murlough Bay, County Antrim
· Felixstowe Beach, Suffolk
· Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire
· Lepe Country Park and Beach, Hampshire
· North Bank, Gwynedd

Landmark of the Year 2020

· Northumberlandia, Northumberland
· Kelpies of Falkirk
· Denge Sound Mirrors, Kent
· McCaig’s Tower, Argyll
· Singing Ringing Tree, Lancashire

Wildlife Success Story 2020

· Pine Marten, Reintroduction
· Gloucestershire, White-Tailed Eagle
· Reintroduction, Isle of Wight
· White Stork Project, Sussex
· Corncrake Conservation, Northern Ireland

The Isle of Eigg, Inner Hebrides, (Photo: Coatesy / Shutterstock)

Green Attraction of the Year 2020

· Centre For Alternative Tech, Snowdonia
· Devon Sculpture Park
· Isle Of Eigg, Inner Hebrides
· Down House, Greater London
· Knepp Wildland, West Sussex

RSPB Mersehead Nature Reserve (Photo: Creative Nature Media / Shutterstock)

Nature Reserve of the Year 2020
· Northey Island, Essex
· Skomer, Pembrokeshire
· Mersehead, Dumfries
· Carlton Marshes, Suffolk
· Martin Down, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset

Reader Photo of the Year 2020

1. Roker Bay by Simon Woodley
2. Horsing About by Sandie Nicholson
3. Small Helper by Sue Cummings
4. Canal Colours by John Dear
5. Kite Light by Steve Harper
6. Ruffled Feathers by Roger Saveker
7. Tumbling Down by Morris Conlan
8. Orchid Beauty by Christine Whitehead
9. Who’s The Fairest of them All? By Julia Amies-Green
10. Paws for Thought by Simon Woodley
11. In Full Song by Lee Chapman
12. Painterly Perfection by Martin Burrows

Voting opens online at www.countryfile.com/awards from today, 16 January, and will close at midnight on Friday 28 February. Winners will be announced on Monday 9 March via their website and profiled in the May issue of BBC Countryfile Magazine. For full terms and conditions, see countryfile.com/awards