Balnahard beach, Isle of Colonsay: A magical beauty spot with thousands of years of history
The white sand beach of Balnahard, on the Isle of Colonsay, is as fascinating as it is beautiful.


The white-sand beaches of Inner Hebridean Colonsay are hardly crowded, even in summer, but Tràigh Bàn or Balnahard, being a sheltered bay that little bit further from the beaten track, is very special.
The 3½-mile walk across the machair from An Crosan takes you past a healing well used by 6th-century St Columba, a Gruagach Stone (leave an offering of milk and the ancient fairy queen will watch over your cattle), a Bronze Age house and Iron Age fort.
Time your arrival at beautiful Balnahard to low tide for a glimpse of the remains of wooden steamship SS Wasa, which was beached in 1920 after a fire. Its timbers and cast-iron hull still jut dramatically from the sand. The view past Mull and the Firth of Lorne to Jura is equally impressive.
See more of Secret Britain
Kingley Vale, West Sussex: The ancient, twisted yews that are the oldest living things in Britain
Today's Secret Britain spot is a mysterious and magical spot in West Sussex.
Binevenagh, Northern Ireland: Lava-hewn crags and cliffs at the end of one of the planet's great railway journeys
Our Secret Britain piece today takes a look at the view from the top of Binevenagh in Co Londonderry.
North Meadow, Cricklade: An ancient field where half a million wildflowers create a wall of colour
The spectacular North Meadow, in Cricklade, Wiltshire, is a Secret Britain sight we should all enjoy at least once.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Credit: Getty/Alamy/Shutterstock
The secret history of the milestone, from Roman Britain to Industrial Revolution and beyond
The milestones which help travellers find their way across Britain have been a feature of the nation's highways and byways
Osea Island, Essex: A secret so well-kept that even the locals have barely heard of it
Annunciata Elwes looks at a little-known spot accessible for just a few hours a day.
Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.
-
Can't you hear me S.O.S? Our treasured native dog breeds are at risk of extinction
Do you know your Kerry blue terrier from your Lancashire heeler? A simple lack of publicity is often to blame for some of the UK's native dog breeds flying dangerously low under-the-radar.
By Victoria Marston Published
-
'There are architects and architects, but only one ARCHITECT': Sir Edwin Lutyens and the wartime Chancellor who helped launch his stellar career
Clive Aslet explores the relationship between Sir Edwin Lutyens and perhaps his most important private client, the politician and financier Reginald McKenna.
By Clive Aslet Published
-
St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, Heysham: The mythical Lancashire ruins with a heavenly view
Annunciata Elwes takes a look at St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, a Morecambe Bay landmark.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
Suisnish, Isle of Skye: The atmospheric ruins of a Clearance village
Beauty now reigns in a tragic spot where hundreds of villagers suffered during the Clearance
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
Covehithe beach, Suffolk, where the cliffs crumble like cake
The most eroded beach in Britain has a post-apocalyptic feel.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
Clydach Ironworks, Monmouthshire: Ruins in the gorge that inspired Shakespeare
An oasis of quiet now stands where the steam hammers thudded at this Welsh ironworks, in a river valley that may have moved Shakespeare to write A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
Royston Cave, Hertfordshire: A mysterious site full of sacred energy
Our Secret Britain series continues with a Hertofrdshire cave whose true nature remains unknown.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
John Bunting War Memorial Chapel, Scotch Corner: The painstaking transformation of rubble to War Memorial
Annunciata Elwes celebrates the effort that turned a derelict house into a memorial.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
The Garden of Cosmic Speculation: The surreal space where Lewis Carroll and Willy Wonka meet Capability Brown
Surrealism, philosophy, nature and gardening come together at the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, as Annunciata Elwes explains.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
-
The Airman’s Grave, Ashdown Forest: A touching and little-known memorial to victims of war and fate
A wartime tragedy in East Sussex's Ashdown Forest is among our Secret Britain picks, as chosen by Annunciata Elwes.
By Annunciata Elwes Published