Clackmannanshire Guide

Everything in Clackmannanshire is dominated by the superb Ochil Hills or River Forth. Alloa was one of Britain's first industrial towns, with a rich and accessible supply of natural resources from her neighbouring towns: coal and silver mines, water (for power), arable land. These primary reasources where essential for providing local prosperity, supplying input for textile mills, brewing and glass workings.

Here are some facts about Clackmannanshire:

• Clackmannanshire measures only 10 miles north to south and 11 miles east to west, covering a total of just 60 square miles making it Scotland's smallest county.

• Following the birth of her son, Mary Queen of Scots escaped to Alloa Tower, Clackmannanshire, amid feared for their safety. She had also spent some of her childhood there and the chair can still be seen in the tower.

• Scotland's most famous poet Robert Burns wrote The Banks of the Devon and Fairest Maid on Devon Banks at Tillicoultry in Clackmannanshire.

• The glen near the Clackmannanshire town of Alva was used to mine silver and is still called the 'Silver Glen'.

• The Scottish author Iain Banks says the Clackmannanshire landscape was the inspiration for his novel 'A Song of Stone'.

• Clackmannanshire is one of the few British counties that teaches children to read using the system known as 'synthetic phonics'. A seven-year study showed that, on average, these children were three and a half years ahead of their chronological age when it came to word recognition and reading ability.

• The Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire is Scotland's oldest boarding school. Former pupils include BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston and Sir James Dewar, the inventor of the vacuum flask.

• The Gartmore Dam, Scotland's oldest artificial reservoir near Sauchie, is now also a nature reserve.

• Former Liverpool footballer Alan Hansen, now also known for his television punditry on the BBC, was born in Alloa, Clackmannanshire.

Here are just some places to visit in and around Clackmannanshire: