Highlands & Outlands: Time-travelling tours

When it comes to exploring a new city, we often rely on tried and tested methods to plan our trip, including guidebooks, extensive online research, and recommendations from family and friends.

But often, getting to the heart of a destination, and discovering the hidden gems overlooked by tourists, requires the personal touch – and that’s where local knowledge is invaluable.

In recent months, the coronavirus pandemic has left many avid travellers considering forgoing their annual fortnight in the sun in favour of a good, old-fashioned staycation. And luckily, top tips and advice for some of Scotland’s most popular holiday hotspots can now be found in our pocket.

Hoping to encourage more of us to become “home town tourists” – a hashtag that has featured in more than 35,000 posts on Instagram – Visitscotland has just launched a podcast series which will see tour guides from around the country share fascinating tales about the towns, rivers, cities and villages they know like the back of their hand.

Hosted by Grant Stott, each weekly episode of Tour Guide Tales explores a different location, starting with an area that has put Scotland on the world stage thanks to its association with the magical romance of the Outlander TV series. Based in Linlithgow, West Lothian, tour guides Emma Chalmers and Anne Daly, from Mary’s Meanders, are the first guests on the podcast, and in just over 30 minutes they provide a potted history of the local landmarks which have appeared on

the hit show, starring Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe.

“We started doing walking tours back in 2013, and the original idea was to guide people around our area in Linlithgow,” explained Emma. “Then the show started being filmed in and around the town, and we quickly fell through the Outlander portal.

“Now, we also do tours based on the life of Mary Queen of Scots – our namesake – as well as ancestry tours for visitors looking to explore their

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