About: Shetland with Laurie

Shetland with Laurie is the result of my passion for our unique islands; their history, culture, archaeology and wildlife. It’s a business that I’ve built, and it’s a blog that I love to write.

Born and bred, I have lived in Shetland all my life (bar four years at Dundee University, where I studied history & politics). Realising that history was where my interests lay, I continued and did a masters in museum & gallery studies at St Andrews University.

I am passionate about Shetland and after graduation spent 10 years working in the heritage industry as a curatorial assistant at the Shetland Museum & Archives. I gave up this role to pursue guiding and more creative tasks in 2018.

After completing my training as a green badge guide for Shetland with the Scottish Tour Guide Association (STGA) in April 2018 I started my business.

Photo: Alexa Fitzgibbon

In the quiet months of winter I carry out other freelance roles, writing for the local paper, Promote Shetland and NorthLink ferries. I also editedShetland Life magazine for a year which was a great challenge.

I am also mum to Hansi (8) and Lena (4) and live with my husband, who is a self-employed plumbing & heating engineer. Most days in the summer, you will find me out-and-about guiding or going on an adventure with the bairns. In the winter I hunker down to write. I am mostly known for ‘organised fun’. When we were younger, my friends would despair as every day-trip would involve me bringing along a map and itinerary of where we were going to explore. I am very driven and love nothing more than a full diary, juggling lots of plates.

I love to share my Shetland with visitors; giving them a taste of life in the isles and taking them on their very own Shetland adventure. If you would like to sign up to my monthly newsletter for more inspiration, you can subscribe here, and remember to follow my blog. I write a new blog post every other weekend, which is full of ideas for things to do, places to stay and tips about coming to Shetland. You can read that here. 

I am most passionate about my family. With two little ones at home it’s important to nurture them and give them the best start in life – and what better place to do that than here in Shetland? I am also passionate about our landscape and environment. We live in a beautiful part of the world, but unfortunately, see first-hand the effects of marine pollution and plastic on our shores and beaches.

Photo: Susan Molloy

When I’m not busy guiding and writing, I like to spend time with my family; we go on hikes, visit beaches, take the boat out or go for a cycle. We’re a very active family – although I don’t play any sport and can’t play a musical instrument! I love spending time at home; recharging and working in the garden.

Since becoming self-employed as a tour guide and writer I have had many exciting opportunities, including an appearance on BBC Breakfast talking about the simmer dim (midsummer) and Australian TV, filming footage for Viking Cruises. I have written many features about Shetland for publication and I'm currently working on a book so stay tuned for that!
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In the future, I would like to continue on the success of the past year of Shetland with Laurie and develop my blog and writing further.

I hope you stay with me on this adventure…