Scotland in a Box: unpack a Highlands road trip at home with this collection of snacks, smells and sounds
- Inspired by all that the country has to offer, a hamper of goodies allows you to experience Scotland despite the coronavirus travel restrictions
- Included is a memory stick featuring storytellers, singers and musicians to make the experience that bit more authentic
In normal times, Emma Chalmers and Anne Daly would be walking visitors around Linlithgow, once an important county town in Scotland but now something of a backwater even though it is within easy reach of both Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The historic town and its surrounding countryside provide plenty of interest, such as the substantial ruin of 14th-century Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, who was beheaded on the orders of England’s Elizabeth I in 1587.
Chalmers and Daly, of Mary’s Meanders Tours, bring various Linlithgow locations to life, walking visitors through the luckless queen’s story, helping others research their own ancestry, and catering for lovers of British television drama series Outlander, now on Netflix – in which a 20th-century English nurse is transported back to 18th century Scotland’s Jacobite rebellion – much of which was shot in the area.
“A day before Valentine’s Day we had a couple and he actually proposed at the top of Linlithgow Palace. We thought, ‘Oh fantastic. What a great start to the season. What a tour to start on’,” says Chalmers.
But that turned out to be 2020’s only completed booking. As it became clear that international travel to Scotland would be suspended for some time, it occurred to Chalmers and Daly that if visitors could not come to the mountains then the mountains must go to them.