There is no car park at Machrie Moor, very little signage but plenty of weather. The rain is lashing down as I park up by a farmer's gate, cross the road and be thankful I'm in the company of David Aitcheson, a man who knows these moors.

With access only by foot, there are few people out at Machrie at any time - still fewer today, just a handful of brilliant yellow or red waterproofs permeating the mist and moisture of the peaty west side of the Isle of Arran.

As Machrie's nominator Jennifer Ratty says: "If Machrie Moor was iin the south of England, it would have a vast car park, heritage centre and hordes of visitors."

On her visit, she saw eagles, red deer and, off the west coast, dolphins and basking sharks.

But the real reason for visiting is that Machrie also has six closely grouped stone circles and a wealth of other Bronze Age and neolithic sites - some 60 prehistoric monuments including standing stones and cairns now within eyesight. "If you are here of a summer's afternoon, there is often no-one else about. It's glorious," says David, breezily.

We start the walk down a track called the Moss Farm road. The farm is now derelict, its decaying outhouses in keeping with the area. Two families now own the land, but 80 per cent is designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and is mainly under the care of the Forestry Commission.

The first hunter gatherers arrived at Machrie around 6,500 years ago: the first farmer some 3,500 years ago. The Moor was abandoned as a settlement at the end of the Bronze Age but evidence of the period is stll widespread.

The farmers built the chamber cairns where their ancestors were buried or cremated, and one is on the track. David then plunges off the track to point out the remains of hut circles - impossible to have found otherwise. Then it is onto the Moor itself, and the series of stone circles.

David takes me around sandstone slabs standing up to 8ft high; the circle which once held wooden posts and the broken millstone someone tried to make from one of granite boulders around 300 years ago. He is not given to mystical explanations - "I don't reckon with alignments or astrological" - and is refreshingly more interested in the geological and historical aspects, pulling a matchstick model of the original layout of the circles from his rucksack.

He is an indispensable guide. While Historic Scotland has put two or three small explanatory signs up at the same sites, there is little in the way of information - and, as Jenny, says happily not heritage or interpretative centre to blot the landscape.

"If people are interested in pre-history, they know of Machrie Moor in the same way as Carnac (Brittany). It is part of the ring of ancient sites worth seeing - with the right conditions and light, you can feel a warm glow here," says David.

Over a coffee later in Blackwaterfoot, three miles away, he reveals himself to be an artist who moved to Arran some years ago and who knows gives non-paid tours of Machrie to visitors.

He is instrumental in the fledgling Arran Enviromental Forum -"there are so many issues. It is such a big field," he says, with recycling, lack of landfill on Arran, sales of homes to outsiders, non-invasive tourism and depopulation on the agenda. "It all comes down to sustainability - but not at the expense of Arran."

NEED TO KNOW:

Caledonian MacBrayne has two ferry routes from the mainland to Arran, with five daily sailings on the main Ardrossan-Brodrick service this winter.

We stayed at the excellent Alltan B&B in Brodick, close to the ferry terminal - www.alltanarran.co.uk - which has won a silver green tourism award.

Alltan is also close to the Arran Heritage Museum which is worth a visit - www.arranmuseum.co.uk

Cicerone Guides has an excellent guide to 45 walks on Arran

NOMINATED BY

My favourite green space is Machrie Moor, on the Isle of Arran, a wonderfully green island in every sense. By provision of recycling facilities, walking tracks, round-the-island bus services and by moving towards abolishing plastic bags, the island makes sure it looks after its amazingly beautiful environment so that visitors can make the most of the stunning scenery, challenging mountain walking and the undisturbed wildlife - eagles, red deer (who spend the summer evenings on the golf course or by the bay at Lochranza) , dolphins, basking sharks and other cetaceans are all common sights.

If Machrie Moor was in the south of England, it would have a vast car-park, a heritage centre and hordes of visitors paying to see its five Neolothic stone circles. As it is, a small sign points the way and the tiny carpark rarely has more than a couple of cars. You walk for a kilometre over bleak moorland. There are few signs of modern man, only of the efforts and beliefs of the ancient people who left behind their monuments. The site is hardly disturbed. The silence is absolute. In the distance, Arran's high mountains rise; towards the sea, the slopes of the beautiful Shiskine valley reflect the ever-changing light of the Western Isles. The amosphere is timeless. A magical green space - Jenny Shaw, Kidderminster

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