Hello from Scotland

Hello!

I’m Dawn-Marie and I live on the South West coast of Scotland in beautiful Ayrshire.

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Greenan Castle, Ayrshire

Scotland is a very popular place to visit, but living here can mean that I don’t get to explore my beautiful country as much as I would like.

“Why?” you ask. Well, work, family and the Scottish weather can take over your life. You’ll have heard the saying: “It rains all the time in Scotland.”

Aye … that could be true, four seasons in one day is becoming very popular here, but what an amazing experience with an ever-changing landscape to explore. Even revisiting a favourite place many times looks different across the seasons.

Girl with fair hair looking across a mountain view
Deep breath and wow … My first hike up Goat Fell mountain in 2006, Isle of Arran

We do have some lovely weather too though, honest! I want to share with you what a magical, breathtaking place Scotland is.

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The Hermitage, Perthshire

I try to visit new places when I can. I love going somewhere I’ve never been before, sometimes that can be close to home!

The Isle of Arran is my favourite place. My husband and I have been visiting regularly since 2006 and we never tire of it, always finding somewhere new to explore.

I hope my stories and photos inspire you to get outdoors, explore what’s on your doorstep and beyond.

Girl standing in long grass with views across the Arran coastline
Blackwaterfoot, Isle of Arran, Ayrshire
Girl standing at the entrance of high but shallow cave, known as the Black Cave
Black Cave, Isle of Arran, Ayrshire

Writing

Writing my blog started out as a whole new challenge for me in 2015. I’m not a trained writer but something inside me wanted to give it a go.

I remember writing a diary when I was a teenager, a long time ago … Writing on paper back in the days was great therapy for me getting everything out of my head! I also loved to write poems and stories.

I think this therapeutic feeling of writing ideas, thoughts and stories has been lying dormant inside me for far too long. It was time to start being creative again.

Photography

Photography is also my passion, mostly all my own work apart from the photos I’m in of course. Sometimes my husband might capture a better photo so I might use it too.

I’m not a professional photographer as such, but sometimes just being in a beautiful place at the right time is all you need to capture that moment.

I recently created a new page Scotland in photos to bring together a small selection of my favourite moments.

Scotland on film

As well as writing and photography, I’ve been having a go at creating videos. It has been so challenging. I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way. I suppose this is the best way to learn and improve.

I upload my longer videos to YouTube, Facebook and sometimes Instagram. I’ve recently joined TikTok which is great platform for shorter clips and being able to use royalty free music. Instagram is now similar as you can also create shorter videos using Reels.

I’m not brave enough to talk to the camera yet, so you’ll be watching beautiful scenery, with relaxing, thoughtful music and sometimes a brief glimpse of me.

My most challenging project has been creating a video tour of the Isle of Arran, using my own words from a poem I was inspired to write.

VisitScotland

If you’re looking for help and advice about visiting Scotland make sure to check out the VisitScotland website which has a wealth of information for everyone.

Contact me

If I can help with anything that you’ve read on my blog send me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Love
Dawn-Marie x

28 thoughts on “Hello from Scotland”

  1. Mary Smith 12 June 2019 — 2:03 pm

    Thanks for for following MarySmith’sPlace. I see we are neighbours as I’m also in south-west Scotland but Dumfries & Galloway rather than Ayrshire. I’m very happy to have found your blog.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. (Post author)
      Dawn-Marie 12 June 2019 — 6:53 pm

      Thank you too for the follow Mary. I keep saying I will visit more of Dumfries and Galloway, beautiful area. Thank you so much for being happy finding my blog. It means a lot when someone tells me this. I love the look of the Glenkiln Sculpture Walk on your blog, amazing! One for my list when I visit. Take care Dawn-Marie x

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  2. myplaidheart 13 February 2018 — 1:17 am

    You have a fantastic blog! I can’t wait to take a closer look at your drone footage.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. (Post author)
      Dawn-Marie 13 February 2018 — 7:07 am

      Thank you for your kind comment 😃 I’m always learning new skills and love sharing Scotland. My husband flies the drone and I create videos, still a fairly new challenge for us both! We’ll need to try and capture more footage soon!

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. myplaidheart 14 February 2018 — 12:12 pm

        My husband has been hinting at getting a drone. I’ll have to share your blog with him. I can’t imagine more breathtaking footage than the varied landscape of Scotland.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Jane Gealy 24 November 2017 — 4:16 pm

    Fantastic photos! I love Scotland – I bet it’s looking amazing with your recent snow fall?

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. (Post author)
      Dawn-Marie 24 November 2017 — 6:27 pm

      Thanks Jane! How did you know I was caught in snow today? 🙂 lol I don’t have many snow photos. I live in south west Scotland so we don’t get as much snow as the north. It did snow today though and I climbed a very small hill in the snow and hail. I wish I’d had a sledge! 🙂

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  4. Dave 23 November 2017 — 8:29 pm

    Fantastic blog post! Scotland is a magical country. I hope your website encourages people to come and visit Scotland. There is so much to see and do. Keep blogging and inspiring.
    Dave 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. (Post author)
      Dawn-Marie 23 November 2017 — 8:42 pm

      Thanks for reading and commenting Dave. I’m so pleased you like it 😃. I also hope my blog inspires people to visit Scotland and also explore where they live. I love sharing the beauty of Scotland. I’ve so many places still to see! Thank you 😃

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Dave 23 November 2017 — 9:11 pm

        I think your blog will encourage tourists to visit Scotland and learn all about it. Despite being Scottish myself, it makes me aware of how much of it I have not seen. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Trails Unblazed 27 May 2016 — 1:00 pm

    Great blog! Scotland looks beautiful. Thanks for following Trails Unblazed. We have moved to http://www.trailsunblazed.com

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. (Post author)
      ~ Dawn-Marie ~ 27 May 2016 — 3:03 pm

      Thank you! Your blog and photos look amazing! I can’t wait to read about your adventures. I’m still a bit of a newbie …work in progress 🙂

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  6. Melanie Chadd 8 March 2016 — 10:57 am

    I’m a newbie too – well to regular writing that I wish people to read. Inspired by our recent move to bonny Scotland. We absolutely love it here. I might be being blind but I can’t find a Facebook page for you…
    Happy blogging x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. (Post author)
      ~ Dawn-Marie ~ 8 March 2016 — 1:19 pm

      Hi Melanie, glad to hear you love Scotland. I love writing about places I’ve visited, some many years ago though! I’m very much a beginner, but with time I should improve! I don’t have a Facebook page for my blog, just a personal one. I’m thinking of starting Instagram for my blog first to see how it goes. It’s more of a time thing to keep up with it all! Your website and photos are amazing! Perthshire is beautiful. I’m climbing Schiehallion in May and hope to take lots of photos! Keep in touch x

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  7. Amy Saunders 2 March 2016 — 12:05 pm

    Hi Dawn-Marie,

    I would like to chat to you about an opportunity with VisitScotland. If you could email me on amy.saunders@whitespacers.com I will send on further information.

    Thanks,
    Amy

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. Eva 22 January 2016 — 8:37 pm

    Dear ~Dawn~Marie~
    I found your blog on the case, looking for location ‘Craigh to dun’. Now I know exactly where it is 🙂 Is the area is private? Because on street view I see the fence and sign ‘free range eggs’. You can go there without a problem? I hope that what I write is quite clear to You.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. (Post author)
      ~ Dawn-Marie ~ 22 January 2016 — 8:51 pm

      Hi Eva,

      Sorry, I don’t know what the case is?

      We walked up to the location with no issues. I’m not sure if we should have been there though as it is private property. We didn’t stay long because of the storm.

      There are no standing stones there unfortunately, it was just the location they filmed. There are so many to see across Scotland!

      Thanks
      Dawn-Marie

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      1. Eva 22 January 2016 — 11:43 pm

        All right. I mean the place where the stones is set to shoot scenes. I found them thanks to your guidance.

        Liked by 1 person

  9. Eva 22 January 2016 — 6:58 pm

    Hi, I’m Eva from Poland.. Thanks so much for showing the Scottish views, especially thank you for placing photos of the location of the Outlander series. I have long been caught in your country. I hope that someday I can visit all these places, which has set itself. But first I need to improve my English in speech and in writing unless too.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. (Post author)
      ~ Dawn-Marie ~ 22 January 2016 — 7:54 pm

      Hello Eva

      Thank you for reading my blog. I’m so happy that you liked my photos :).

      I loved visiting one of the Outlander filming locations, it was so beautiful. I hope to visit more locations soon.

      I hope you can visit Scotland one day. You should look at the Visit Scotland website: http://www.visitscotland.com

      Thank you
      Dawn-Marie 🙂

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      Reply
  10. chattykerry 7 January 2016 — 4:26 pm

    Hi Dawn Marie – thank you for following Postcards from Kerry. Yours is a beautifully laid out blog and bringing back many memories of living in Scotland before we moved to Texas.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. (Post author)
      ~ Dawn-Marie ~ 7 January 2016 — 5:19 pm

      Hello from Scotland!

      Thank you for the following Kerry and nice comment! It’s the Misty Lake theme I’ve used. Just starting out here, so all very new.

      You have some fab photos on your blog and such a great variety of topics! I’ll need to read some of them soon. Love your cat, I have two 🙂

      Thanks
      DM

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. chattykerry 7 January 2016 — 5:24 pm

        Well done – it took me a year to figure out how to create a link. Doh!

        Liked by 1 person

  11. Yinglan 5 January 2016 — 8:59 pm

    Scotland! What an interesting place to be. Thank you for visiting and following my blog, This is Another Story.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. (Post author)
      ~ Dawn-Marie ~ 5 January 2016 — 9:36 pm

      Thank you too for following! I’m just a beginner at this blogging … Love your blog, great stories!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  12. blondieaka 2 January 2016 — 2:33 pm

    Hi Dawn Marie welcome to the world of blogging, I hope like me that you will make some friends and find out just how lovely most bloggers are. Thank you for the visit and the follow and I look forward to seeing and learning more about Bonnie Scotland which my father loved. Happy New Year 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. (Post author)
      ~ Dawn-Marie ~ 2 January 2016 — 2:42 pm

      Thank you so much for the welcome :). It’s still very new to me but hopefully I’ll improve with practise!

      Everyone is has been really supportive and blogging is a whole new world I never knew existed!

      Thanks again and Happy New Year 🙂

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      Reply

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