“I saw Scotland through a traveller’s eyes”
After the first series, April, who is in charge of editing, joined Robbie as co-owner of Pocket Mountains. The couple, who live in Moffat, Dumfries & Galloway, with their three sons aged eight, 12 and 15, have been together for almost 25 years.
In the late 1990s, they came to live in Scotland, when Robbie, who grew up on a farm near Carluke, South Lanarkshire, began working in Edinburgh.
As April and Robbie explored Scotland together, Robbie started to view the country in a new way.
“I’d always known Scotland because I grew up here,” Robbie says. “But because April was new to Scotland, she saw it with fresh eyes.
“I saw my own country through a traveller’s eyes and the first threads of an idea formed – that Scotland was not yet being promoted as a tourism destination despite having the diverse qualities, attractions and landscapes of other more popular countries.
“It is different today because Scotland is firmly on the worldwide tourism map. However, without April, I don’t believe I would have had the initial thought to start publishing guidebooks more than 20 years ago.”
Today, Robbie describes his part in Pocket Mountains as “semi-retired”, although there are more than a dozen new titles in the process of being published.
“Both April and I still run the business together and we also look after the children together, too. Neither of us work full-time now though.
“I could never have imagined the successful publishing company we have,” Robbie says, “and I really just thought at the start I wanted to publish better guide books for the Scottish Highlands.
“Now we have so many books – still true to my original concept and the same size and format, making Scotland interesting and accessible to more people.
“I still have some exciting ideas and I am always open to listening to potential authors. There is a lot we can still write about because there is so much to see in the UK.”