NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW ON-LINE

As a Scottish poet who once worked as a PR for the Scottish Islands ferry company Caledonian Macbrayne, I opened Scottish Islands Explorer slowly and with a deep breath, expecting pages full of advertorials and sales jargon. To my delight I found it to be a magazine with a substantial photographic focus while possessing a strong and vibrant editorial voice.

Published six times a year from Fair Isle, Shetland, the Scottish Islands Explorer, unlike some tourist magazines, does not contain the usual advertorials or marketing jargon posing as articles. It is packed full of well written feature articles covering such topics as local history, culture and myth, the environment and architecture. With each feature comes a very useful Fact File, containing advice for readers who are inspired enough to experience island life first hand. There is a sense in which the magazine knows it speaks to a vast international audience of potential visitors to the islands, which would benefit the islands' fragile economies, but without compromising integrity.

The tone of the magazine follows its lead from ISLAND WORDS, a regular feature by Editor, Linda Grieve. The language of the column is almost hypnotic. A description of the winter landscape becomes a geography and history lesson, telling of beauty and tragedy in the way only a native of these islands can. With descriptions such as salt-laden equinoxal gales, the year's turning and the earth-bound secrets of bygone lives the language conjures tranquillity and innocence, yet doesn't shirk from acknowledging the hard-hitting forces of nature when describing farmers struggling to survive the harsh environment. There is an attachment to the land, but more than this, there is a sense in which the writers here are inextricably connected to these islands, woven in the fabric of their consciousness.

The photographic element is substantial, but not overdone; they are good quality and balance with the subject of the articles in an enhancing way. Regular features include a Scottish Islands news column, including, in this issue, such diverse topics as the arrival of broadband and the increased breeding population of sea eagles.

On the magazine's website, you can't immediately access the magazine, but you can order a free ezine. Here we are told that it is the UK's only magazine devoted to exploring the islands of Scotland, frankly, I am surprised there is even one! With its modern outlook and tone, Scottish Islands Explorer strikes the right note and beats established Scottish publications such as The Scots Magazine hands down. Give it a glance and read at your leisure.

A good quality, well-written magazine that is sensitive to the ways and life of the islands and their inhabitants around Scotland.

The beautiful photography that takes you into a world where the pace of life has slowed considerably, letting you relax and admire the scenery and wildlife at the same time, meeting people who have all the time in the world to speak to you.

If you love exploring nooks and crannies, whether in person and taking the weather as it comes or, if you are an armchair aficionado who just likes reading about such places from the comfort of your armchair, then, this is the perfect island-hopping magazine for you.

Visit Cairns on the Hebrides, some dating back to as long ago as 3500 BC; a Neolithic tomb; Brochs and walls that are still in excellent condition despite being ravaged over the years by the fierce Atlantic storms, built centuries ago using the old technique of drystane-dyking - a method of building walls without using fixing materials such as cement.

The Shetland Isles where sheep have been kept since the Stone Age. Where the famous 'Cobweb' Shetland wool for Christening shawls and wedding veils can be purchased.

If this has whetted your appetite to go, the strong Atlantic gales can be bitterly cold so remember to take plenty of warm clothing and strong waterproof clothing and strong walking footwear.

This well-established journal is a gentle triumph of the entrepreneurial spirit and environmental awareness that are required to ensure the survival of communities in the distant corners of these islands. It achieves many things.

First, the magazine outdoes by a large margin any attempt by the Scottish Tourist Board to encourage travel to the islands. The level of detail, accuracy and commitment found in the many articles is impressive, without ever becoming pompous, over-idealised or 'geeky'. For example, Dan Bailey's account of a cycle trip through the Western Isles is engaging because it's the perspective of the inexpert, keen to learn. And the full gamut of Hebridean weather is described.

Similarly, Felicity Martin's account of a trip to the regenerated community of Gigha is a well balanced exercise in shrewd enthusiasm. Throughout the magazine, there is generous and frequent use of quality colour photographs (mainly taken by Sue Anderson).

The magazine has a strong literary vein. There is a retracing of island journeys taken by Dr. Johnson and Sir Walter Scott, and a pleasant poem by David Elder, CREELS. Island history is explored in other contributions, such as Arthur Kinnear's exploration of the life of a church bell originating from a German battleship, and now pealing across Eriskay, in the Outer Hebrides.

The drive for economic and cultural regeneration underlies a lot of the articles in the magazine. There are snippets of information about any number of projects that ensure the future of the island character — encouraging the readers to spend their time and money in various ways. The population of St. Kilda, famously evacuated 75 years ago, is remembered in an article (as well as in other projects planned for the summer, including a symphony to be broadcast on Radio 4 on 17th July 2005). Underpinning these projects is a desire better to understand and protect the future of other remote communities. In Gigha's case, the recent purchase of the whole island by its inhabitants has been the first step towards a vibrant and enterprising new commercial and demographic outlook.

SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER is an affirmative statement of the reasons why islands and their communities make the world a better place. At the same time, the magazine's contents never promote a 'dependency culture': they celebrate the independence of spirit and the ingenuity that make places like Gigha economically fertile.

After all, the publication is edited from a croft on Fair Isle, that very special place, in a large and distant sea.