Books & Writing
Exploring the Scottish Highlands with children
INVERNESS, Scotland — Lured by tales of fairies, ancient standing stones, and sea monsters, my husband and I
visited the Scottish Highlands last summer with our daughters, ages 3, 6, and 8. Charlotte, Juliette, and Madeleine had seen the film “Brave,” and knowing we’d be in Europe for my work, pleaded for a detour.
INVERNESS, Scotland — I didn’t want to travel like a local, I wanted to travel with one. Enter Gordon Pearson, a Highlander who owns Wow Scotland, a boutique tour company that specializes in tours around his native region. Mr. Pearson responded to my query with a killer plan, an itinerary I couldn’t refuse. Beguiled by bigscreen images, my kids would now have a chance to discover where modern Scotland intersects with and where it diverges from those depictions.
Paris, France – My six-year-old and I wandered the steep back streets of Montmartre for an hour before reaching Place du Tertre. We stopped on Place Emile Goudeau to watch a group of silver-haired French women paint in an open-air art class – a scene that compelled Madeleine to vow, with most earnest eyes, that she would return to Paris when she was older to study art.
A family of five finds fantasy, beauty and, naturally, unpredictable weather around Inverness and the Isle of Skye…