Rivendell telephone booth bookswap

There's a red telephone box standing alone on the A838 near Thurso that's been converted into something rather brilliant - a tiny library where travellers swap books. It's the sort of thing you'd expect to find in the Cotswolds, not this far north in the Highlands, which is precisely why it works so well.

The booth itself is impossibly cramped. You can fit maybe thirty paperbacks inside, depending on their thickness, and the system is wonderfully honest - take a book, leave a book, ask no questions. I found a dog-eared copy of a Muriel Spark novel wedged between two crime thrillers, which tells you the sort of random literary roulette you're playing here.

It's not an attraction you'll spend long at - five minutes, maybe ten if you're browsing properly. But that's rather the point. This is a proper traveller's find, the kind of thing that sticks in your memory far longer than a manicured tourist spot. Walkers heading through the area will appreciate it; families camping at nearby Little Croft Highlands might make it a quirky pit stop on a longer drive.

The real charm is in its pointlessness. It exists because someone thought it should, not because it's been focus-grouped or monetised. On a grey Highland afternoon, when you're driving between proper attractions, stumbling across this little act of kindness feels genuinely special. Bring a book worth reading, take one that catches your eye.