About

General Notes

“Gone to Scotland” is simply a catalogue of past and personal travels with my family around Scotland.

All of the photos were taken by us, and I’ve tried to find pictures for most of the places covered.

Some parts of Scotland are great to visit. Others aren’t. Hopefully this blog will help illustrate places that may be of interest to you.

How this blog came about

So we lived in a terraced house in the inner city of Hull - repeatedly voted as one of the worst places in the UK to live.

We lived in one of a handful of areas that required specialist policing because of the heroin problem, and Hull itself is a stretch of industrial development on the floodplain of the River Humber.

The only countryside for tens of miles is flat and un-inspiring.

Overall, not a great place to bring up a young family.

My girlfriend is a country girl who yearned to return. She was from the Isle of Man, but the price of property there is even more insane than the mainland UK. And it is a small island that I could probably feel trapped on.

Scotland was the next best option.

My internet skills allowed me to work from home and generate an income - we decided to take a risk and move to Scotland.

We didn’t know where we’d want to live, and my business was only a year old - to young to take out a mortgage on.

So we upped and rented near Stirling, in the heart of Central Scotland.

It was a great place to explore Scotland - most of the country is relatively easily accessible from Stirling.

And during this time, we travelled most of it - covering south, east, west, and north of Scotland.

And then, after 18 months, we decided to move to Nairn - easily one of the most beautiful and undervalued towns of Scotland, with some of the best beaches in the UK.

Visiting Crieff, in Central Scotland.

Visiting Achnahaird, West Coast.