My little piece of Scotland: Bardennoch Hill

Sometimes there are blackberries and I found a long-tailed tit's nest once. When you walk to the top of the woods, there is a hill. There is usually a pair of buzzards flying around and they make a whistling noise. Sometimes we copy it to annoy them.

There is a little river here with a gnarled-up tree and a high grassy bank you can swing your legs over. That river joins up to the big river at the end of my garden. One time we went there and my friends and I stayed at the river for ages, throwing water-filled gloves at each other until my dad had to come and find us.

There is also a broken-down house on the hill. There are old smashed stairs and rooms full of mud trampled by the sheep. I went in once, but then they put up a "no entry" sign on it. At the back there are old smashed sheep pens, which today's sheep still haunt.

Then there is a high hill with grass ridges up it. Everyone else goes up the path but I like to climb up the steep part. Walking over the hill, you come down to long grass with hundreds of hairy caterpillars and a black lake full of tadpoles.

On the way down, there is a fenced place. In it there is a tree and a little castle turret containing a broken fireplace and old bird skeletons. It is like there is a huge castle buried underneath and this is the highest room. To get to the castle you have to wade through tall nettles, and there are tiny white seeds everywhere. Once I found a hole that I thought was a badger's set.

Down in the valley is a tiny village called Tynron. Sometimes we walk back over the hill and sometimes Dad picks us up from Tynron in the car. If we are lucky, when we get home to Moniaive, we get Maltesers cake in the Green Tea Caf.

Alma Riddell (11), Moniaive

This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 24 January, 2010