Milton known as Milntown of Tarbat until the early 1970s, is a small Easter Ross

Easter Ross

Easter Ross is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scottish Parliament constituency...

 community between Kildary

Kildary

Kildary is a small village in Easter Ross, Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.The village is located on the Balnagown River and is bordered by Balnagown Castle and the Balnagown estate, owned by Mohamed Al Fayed, former owner of Harrods department store...

 and Barbaraville

Barbaraville

Barbaraville is a small settlement on the north west shore of the Cromarty Firth in Highland, Scotland. Housing dates from 1820 onwards when local people were allowed to build on packets of land from local estates at Balnagown, Tarbet and Polnicol....

 on Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

's North East coast.

Overview

It was a centre for oatmeal

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is ground oat groats , or a porridge made from oats . Oatmeal can also be ground oat, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled oats....

 and later flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

 production, fed by the many surrounding farms during the heyday of the Clan Ross

Clan Ross

Clan Ross is a Highland Scottish clan. The original chiefs of the clan were the original Earls of Ross.-Origins:Clan Ross is a Highland Scottish clan first named as such by King Malcolm IV of Scotland in 1160...

. Its market cross

Market cross

A market cross is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, originally from the distinctive tradition in Early Medieval Insular art of free-standing stone standing or high crosses, often elaborately carved, which goes back to the 7th century. Market crosses can be found in most...

 dates from the late 18th century. The mill

Watermill

A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

 was powered by a feed from the Balnagown River.

Today it has a modern council

Council house

A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...

 housing development to the west and north of the original village, built during the early and late 1970s on what was arable land

Arable land

In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...

 for many centuries.

The original village, a conservation area, features classic Scottish Vernacular

Scottish Vernacular

Scottish Vernacular architecture is a form of vernacular architecture often seen as being rooted in Georgian and Victorian architectural conventions - see Edinburgh and Glasgow. However, the distinctive and unique Scottish features include corbelled Gables and Lime Renders - Culross and Aberlady...

 architectural features, and a short distance away the Tarbat Estate includes Major-General Lord MacLeod's 1787 Georgian

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

 Tarbat House, now in a state of ruin but with many original features within the grounds, including the burial sites of favourite horses and dogs and an impressive, although now uncared for Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

. The view from the top floors of the mansion in its early days before the encroachment of trees would have provided a spectacular view over the grounds to the Cromarty Firth

Cromarty Firth

The Cromarty Firth of Cromarty') is an arm of the North Sea in Scotland. It is the middle of the three sea lochs at the head of the Moray Firth: to the north lies the Dornoch Firth, and to the south the Beauly Firth....

.