My Favourite Holiday: Novelist Oscar de Muriel picks Maree, ​the loch of the dead gorgeous

BORN in Mexico City, novelist Oscar de Muriel was moved to the UK to complete his studies.

Now living in Manchester, he has become a successful author with The Loch Of The Dead, out in paperback on May 31, his fourth novel.

It’s set in Scotland, on a small island on Loch Maree.

I MUST admit I first discovered Loch Maree by blindly pointing at a map of the Highlands as I needed a remote location for one of my books.

Only then did I learn the folklore and legends that surround it, saw amazing photos on internet, and very soon I headed there with more courage than common sense.

After a gruelling three-hour drive from Inverness, along narrow, country roads occasionally blocked by sheep and hairy coos (A word of wisdom – don’t attempt this in a smart car) I made it to the shores of the gorgeous Loch Maree.

As soon as I saw it, I fell madly in love with it.

It’s breathtaking, with miles upon miles of woods, rolling hills, craggy mountains and tranquil waters.

I remember parking, my nerves wrecked after the drive, but the large whisky I had sitting by the shores, looking at the beautiful islands as the day drew to a close, was a moment I will never forget.

I was fortunate enough to spend a few nights at Loch Maree Hotel, a charming old building where Queen Victoria herself once stayed.

It’s miles from any village, yet just a few steps from the shore and some gorgeous waterfalls.

The hotel also has its own piers and a dining room with some of the best views of the loch – best enjoyed with their cheese board and a glass of port, or with a wee dram and a portion of their freshly caught haggis.

You can arrange a guided tour around the islands. There is a small island with an ancient graveyard another island with its own little loch in the middle, and a handful of sandy beaches dotted all across the archipelago.

I could fill pages and pages with the stories I heard that day, from the ancient druids to fake Second World War airbases.

It was a joy to revisit my photos as I wrote Loch Of The Dead, interweaving the real places: the sacred island full of oak and holly, which my characters get to see on a spooky night, and even the woods where a certain gruesome crime takes place…