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 ten 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. I completed my training as a green badge guide for Shetland with the Scottish Tour Guide Association (STGA) in April 2018. Since January 2019, I have been the editor of Shetland Life magazine – a vibrant monthly magazine which focuses on life in Shetland, its culture and community. (To subscribe to Shetland Life, here.) With a growing readership, this is a challenging and fun role, and the two jobs work well together, ensuring that I am never bored!

Photo: Alexa Fitzgibbon

I am also mum to Hansi (7) and Lena (3) 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, plan and make sure Shetland Life is under control in time for the busy tourist season. 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 are 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 (which has been much neglected over the summer of 2019!).

Since becoming self-employed as a tourist guide and editor, 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, including pieces for Shetland Life, Northlink Ferries, Promote Shetland & Shetland Wool Week Annual. A few years ago I co-authored a book called Guddicks: Traditional Riddles from Shetland which is available to buy here.

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…

Laurie x

All photos used on this website (except those in the blog or otherwise stated) are by © Alexa Fitzgibbon
Check out her work on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OddPoppyPhotography/​