Kilted Guide

10/08/2024

Visit to this week - always amazes me to see his sword. It’s so long. I like the movie , he was definitely not a 5’8” Australian!! Sword is as long as I am!

07/08/2024

A couple of nights staying in so took opportunity for walk around this small village incorporated into Edinburgh about 100 years ago. Lovely area. A fabulous example of a , with nesting boxes for more than 1000 pigeons - this would have supplied the residents of the castle which once stood here with meat and eggs. The statue is of the two main characters from , David Balfour and Alan Breck Stewart, the novel by . This spot is where they parted at the end of the story

04/08/2024

forming part of the today. This year’s theme commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Honour to take part

31/07/2024

PLEASE SHARE

To celebrate the opening of the fabulous Perth Museum, I have created an audio walking tour of on .
The tour takes you through the medieval town of Perth, and there are various links to stories of murder and mayhem! The walk takes 45-60 minutes.
If you are interested in finding out more about Perth's history, click on the link, and you should be taken to a page allowing you to download the walk. All you need is a phone!
I'd be extremely grateful if you would share this so that anybody coming to Perth is aware. If you know anybody with a guesthouse/hotel that might like to promote this, even better! (David Murphy!!).

Hear tales of warring clans and betrayal in Scotland’s former capital with this self-guided tour of Perth, Scotland, the United Kingdom. For the best experience, install the VoiceMap audio guide app with automatic GPS playback and offline maps.

30/07/2024

This morning’s view. Another lovely (dry) fortnight for my guests as they depart today!

29/07/2024

Enjoying the sun outside the at visitor centre. Love this building!

29/07/2024

Fabulous being unloaded at !

28/07/2024

Is there a more peaceful spot to pass a Sunday than . Always love the tranquility here!

27/07/2024

Bit cloudy at today,!sigh. We’ll just have to cope! .

26/07/2024

Always great to bump into colleagues in the road. 37 years ago I sat beside this fine gentleman at the Scottish Police College for 8 weeks (a pleasure repeated a year later), as we started as naive young Constables (at least I was naive - I suspect Alastair Armour was less so!!). Now both in the guiding world. Incredible to look at him and realise that while I haven’t changed a bit, he has turned into an old man 🤣😉).

24/07/2024

An interesting delve into our penal system!

22/07/2024

My office has the best views!!

20/07/2024

Managed a rare visit to the in this week. It’s such a fabulous collection of old transport, I need to go more often!

16/07/2024

Nice evening looking over to . It has the longest recorded history of any castle in Scotland, and was the capital of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. Built in 1220 to defend Scotland against the Norsemen, its keeper, John Menteith, was to betray in 1305. A record of an earlier castle is linked to a letter written by in the 5thC, asking the king to stop kidnapping his people into slavery.

09/07/2024

4000 years ago a woman in her late 20s was buried in , the centre of a Scoto-Irish kingdom. After the discovery of her body in the 90s, her face has been reconstructed to give us this wonderful image

08/07/2024

This stunning jet necklace and bracelet are just two of the items on display at . A fabulous museum, newly refurbished, it tells the story of a time when the area was the centre of a Scoto-Irish kingdom. The valley is littered with , and . This item was buried with its owner around 4000 years ago.

06/07/2024

Last day of an 8 day tour with the Hulberts. What a blast! Repeat visitors and still on speaking terms😳 a delightful family. Finished with a visit to Roman camp, and where I pointed out a window commemorating Scotland’s most important family before letting them sit on the royal thrones. Can’t wait til they return to visit the islands!

05/07/2024

What’s going on? In Falkland there was no access to Leslie, and now my kilt’s illegal 🙄😡 , or House of the Trousers is where Scots would change out of their kilts, which were banned, to visit the mainland, changing back into the vastly superior kilt on their return. Part of a Hanoverian attempt to crush Gaelic culture after Culloden.

04/07/2024

Caught looking guilty by after finding the first blaeberries (blueberries) of the season at . Delicious!

04/07/2024

Fabulous day in on the trail of . Visited , greatly influenced by you can already see the influence of in the development of the gardens. On to where many royal servants, including , are buried. Finished with some exercise walking the to see the pyramid commemorating Albert.

03/07/2024

I know you ‘re not meant to have a favourite child, but when it comes to castles…? Love sitting on its rugged seastack. So much history - taken by ; used to keep the Scottish Crown Jewels safe from Cromwell; used as a brutal prison for the . Stunning dramatic! Fab visit as part of the Hulbert family anniversary tour!

01/07/2024

Starting our journey north today beginning with a stop in to see the - in by , this is where David Balfour was abducted. Continued to and with a visit to the . Another lovely day!

01/07/2024

How did they know I was coming??

30/06/2024

A few more photos from today 😃

30/06/2024

Another fabulous day with the Hulberts. Visited beautiful , ( home) looking magnificent in this weather, and then a trip to , Scotland’s oldest continually occupied house, dating to 1107. It’s got a fascinating history having hosted 27 Scottish Kings and Queens. As the family remained catholic after the reformation, the castle even has a priest hole - an escape route for a priest in the event of a surprise visit by the authorities!

29/06/2024

Been looking forward to this tour for. Year! The amazing Hulbert family are repeat visitors who I’ll be accompanying over the next 8 days. Started with a literary tour of Edinburgh, focussing on and . Finished with a visit to where John Macfie gave us a fascinating oversight to influences before a wonderful afternoon tea. His daughters are amazing bakers!! I even ended up as a prize in a bridal scavenger hunt (or to be more specific, my tie did!). What a great start to the tour.

26/06/2024

Always enjoy a walk to the at

25/06/2024

Bought some brollies for my guests last year but, as it never rains on the Kilted Guide, I’ve never had the chance to use them. Looked a little threatening at today, so brought them just in case. Not really needed, however my lovely guests deployed them purely for photographic purposes!!

24/06/2024

Sitting outside are a couple of reminders of whilst underneath is the 24000 sq feet command centre, which would have housed a regional seat of government in the event of nuclear war. An interesting visit!

23/06/2024

On a royal visit to in 1842, was presented with the keys to the city. Just one of the items on display in