WATCH: Sutherland tourism group thanks visitors who stayed away during lockdown in a video featuring stunning shots of the area
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A Sutherland tourism group has released a stunning video to thank visitors for staying away from the area during lockdown.
Community organisation Discover Assynt has also used the video to send a message to visitors that they will be welcomed back.
It features glorious aerial footage of the area - bounded on four corners by the Point of Stoer, Kylesku, Elphin and Inverkirkaig.
Shots show the distinctive mountain Suilven, beaches, lochs and waterfalls as well as moorland.
There is a voice-over by Lewis MacAskill, chairman of community group Assynt Foundation.
In it he says: “In uncertain times we would like to thank you for understanding. For understanding that our community is fragile.
“For understanding that we will still be here for you when the time to return is right.
“Our landscape will remain unchanged, our beaches pristine, our hills beguiling and our people delighted to welcome you back to discover Assynt once again.”
The video also contains extracts from the poem ‘A man in Assynt’ by well-known poet Norman MacCaig, who loved the area.
Although his home was in Edinburgh, he spent time every summer for more than 40 years in Assynt and the place and its people were frequently the inspiration for his verse.
The poem's stirring final lines are voiced in the video: "Who possesses this landscape? — The man who bought it or I who am possessed by it.”
A Discover Assynt representative said: "It is a wee video to thank those who have not been able to visit Assynt during the Covid-19 pandemic, who have understood the fragility of our remote rural community and have been staying at home until it is safe to return.
"And it is also a thank you to those who planned on visiting our beautiful land for the very first time. We look forward to seeing all of you when the time is right."
