For ten years or so, Gavin Maxwell spent as much time as he could living in a remote cottage in the bay of a Scottish island, lovingly described in his classic Ring of Bright Water. While mostly dedicated to the otters with whom he shared his home, he also evokes a beautiful, rugged landscape with a quick-changing climate.  Here a gentle moment, with the sea waves breaking encircled by these mountains mist-swathed.

Something in his description conjures a Chinese painting.

‘Beyond the door is the sea, whose waves break on the beach no more than a stone’s throw distant, and encircling, mist-hung mountains.’

Source: Gavin Maxwell, Ring of Bright Water (London: Penguin, 1974), p. 3