Treasures of the Earth is at Corpach, three kilometres north-west of Fort William on the A830 towards Mallaig, and it is a geology museum built around a large private collection of crystals, gemstones, minerals and fossils.
The collection is displayed in a set of simulated caves and mine workings — dim, lit to show the specimens off, with the pieces set into rock rather than laid in cases.
The scale of some of the specimens is the thing: amethyst geodes taller than a person, large quartz clusters, calcite, fluorite, malachite, and a substantial run of gemstone material both rough and cut.
Fossils — ammonites, trilobites, fish, plant material and dinosaur specimens.
Gold and silver in natural form, and meteorite material.
Scottish minerals, which given where you are is the most locally interesting part — including material from the Highland mines and the agate and cairngorm stones that were traditionally set in Scottish jewellery.
The lighting and the cave setting do a lot of work, and the effect is closer to a grotto than a museum gallery. It is not a scholarly presentation and it does not pretend to be.
Children do very well here — the caves, the scale of the crystals and the darkness are the appeal, and there are model trolls worked into the displays that younger visitors go looking for.
Anyone with an interest in minerals will find it far better than expected. The staff are described consistently as friendly and genuinely knowledgeable, and happy to talk about specimens.
Anyone expecting a national-standard museum should adjust. It is, as one visitor accurately put it, a private rock and fossil collection on display with a shop attached — fairly small, and priced modestly to match.
This is one of the few indoor attractions in the Fort William area, and it is what people do when the mountains are in cloud and the walk is off.
Between this, the West Highland Museum in town, and the Nevis Range gondola — which runs in most weather — a wet day in Lochaber is manageable.
Unusually, the shop is a genuine part of the visit: a large selection of minerals, fossils, polished stones and jewellery at a wide range of prices, and one of the better places in the Highlands to buy a specimen. Children with pocket money do well.
Admission charged, modest.
Time: forty-five minutes to an hour, plus the shop.
Parking: free and plentiful on site.
Facilities: shop, toilets. Corpach has a café and shops.
Access: the cave displays are largely level; the lighting is deliberately low.
Opening: seasonal — it typically closes for part of the winter, so check before travelling.
Corpach is where the Caledonian Canal meets the sea, with the sea lock and the well-photographed Corpach shipwreck on the shore below, with Ben Nevis behind it.
Neptune’s Staircase at Banavie is five minutes away.
The road west to Glenfinnan, Arisaig and Mallaig starts here.
A private collection of crystals, gemstones, minerals and fossils displayed in simulated caves.
Forty-five minutes to an hour, plus time in the shop.
Yes — the caves, the giant crystals and the hidden trolls do the work, and the shop sells specimens cheaply.
It is primarily a wet-day option. On a clear day the mountains are the better call.
Corpach, three kilometres from Fort William on the A830 towards Mallaig, with free parking.