Pat Trotter

You approach Kilchoman Distillery down a long gravel road through fields of barley set below dramatic green hills.  Founded in 2005, Kilchoman was the first new distillery to be built on Islay in over 124 years. Anthony Wills, Kilchoman Founder, set out to resurrect the grass roots tradition of farm

Part two of my grand journey to Scotland began today with  my trip to Islay, the whisky island.  This was one of the main objectives of the trip and the pilgrimage began in Edinburgh where I had journeyed the day before by train from Inverness.  My guide, Bo Fraser, picked

A visit to the Corrimony Nature Reserve, a Caledonian forest restoration project, was made possible by our guide, Simon McLaughlin, who manages the reserve. This provided an opportunity to see and learn first-hand about forest restoration work in action. This particular reserve is a key area for black grouse which

Our last day on the Natural Habitat Highlands tour started out with a visit to the Aigas Field Centre to learn about their wildcat breeding program.  The Aigas Wildcat Conservation Breeding Programme was set up in 2011 and is now breeding these animals in collaboration with a large network of

First stop this morning was to Seaforth Harris Tweed and a look into the story of Harris Tweed. To visit Seaforth Harris Tweed is to learn not just about weaving, but to glimpse the whole story. Iain Martin, master weaver, walks visitors through the history of the Harris Tweed and

There are few words to describe the experience of a visit to the Shiant islands.  The Shiants are a small group of islands in the Hebrides, in North West Scotland, four miles or so off the coast of Lewis and 12 from the northern tip of Skye, which lies almost

 Drove through Skye to Uig to catch the ferry to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris. Smooth trip, great lunch aboard the ferry and within 2 hours we had arrived.  First impressions of Harris were of a small village with a clear tie to maritime industries.  Charter boats to St.