Far from the Madding Crowd

For this grand tour, Paul Murton is exploring the Isle of Mull and its satellite islands to discover why they have become boltholes from the hustle and bustle of the modern world.

Beginning his journey on the tidal island of Erraid, which inspired famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, Paul is then island-hopping to beautiful Ulva, the final resting place of Lachlan MacQuarrie, one of the first governors of New South Wales. MacQuarrie is known as the father of Australia, but Ulva is where this celebrated Scot was born and it is where he chose to be buried.

Leaving peaceful Ulva behind, Paul heads to explore Mull itself and is given a whistle-stop tour of the island by rally driver Louise Thomas, who regularly competes in the world-famous Mull Rally.

After seeing Mull at breakneck speed, it's time for some tranquillity and Paul travels to the mysterious little island of Inch Kenneth. This is where some of the earliest kings of Scotland are buried, but in more recent times Inch Kenneth was owned by the aristocratic and eccentric English family, the Mitfords, and Paul discovers the island has a dark secret. This is where Unity Mitford, who was a Nazi sympathiser, was hidden by her family when, distraught at the news that Britain had gone to war with her beloved Germany, she shot herself. The badly injured Unity was taken to Inch Kenneth to recuperate and hide from the world. To raise his spirits Paul heads to his final destination, the beautiful and remote Treshnish Islands, where he experiences a spot of puffin therapy.