One of the best things about writing books set in Scotland is that everywhere you go instantly becomes inspiration for a book setting.
OK, maybe not quite everywhere; I’ve learned the hard way, for instance that writing about your own street is a surefire recipe for weirdness, so, much as I’d love to write a book set in The Village one day, I’m unfortunately going to have to wait until we’ve moved far away from here before I can do that.
Like, really far away.
And maybe also change my entire identity and/or fake my death.
But I digress.
Until such a time as I can write some more about the goings-on in our small Scottish village, then, I have to resort to taking inspiration from some of the other places I visit. Fortunately for me, though, Scotland has no shortage of storybook-style locations to draw from, so, here are just a few of the ones that have either appeared in or inspired my books…
Pittenweem, Fife & North Berwick, East Lothian
Although Heather Bay is a fictional town in the books it features in, in my mind, it’s actually an amalgamation of two separate places: Pittenweem, in Fife, with its pretty pastel houses along the seafront, and North Berwick in East Lothian, with its little harbour, long main street, and beautiful beaches.
(Oh, and maybe with a little bit of Portree, in Skye, thrown in for luck…)
Location-wise, I’ve always imagined Heather Bay as existing somewhere in Wester Ross, probably somewhere near Poolewe and Gairloch, which we visited back in Easter 2023, but which I’ve so far completely failed to write about: whoops! The beaches in this part of the world are beautiful and wild, though, and, it was while visiting one of them that I literally saw a flat-capped farmer (I’m assuming he was a farmer, anyway. Let’s all just assume he was a farmer…) walking a sheep on a leash down towards the beach … and that’s why if anyone ever tries to tell me that the characters of Jimmy and Edna from the Heather Bay Romance Series aren’t realistic, I’m just going to quietly chuckle to myself. (And, OK, also silently wish I’d gotten a better photo, because that would’ve been a much better way to prove that particular point, wouldn’t it?)
(This is Gairloch from the road: if you’re ever struggling to imagine what Heather Bay might look like, please feel free to refer back to this image…)
Speaking of Wester Ross…
Wester Ross Beaches
… some of the aforementioned beaches around here were the inspiration for Puffin Cove, in a Scottish Cozy Mystery, which I was in the process of writing during our trip (although it was called The Accidental Investigator then… and still should be, if you ask me…). I can’t remember exactly which one is pictured here, but I can tell you it was super-windy, and absolute madness for me to be attempting to stand in those rocks, so, you know, don’t try this at home, kids. Leave it to experts like me. Ahem.
Whispering Pines Hotel, Highlands
Whispering Pines is not only one of the best places I’ve ever had the pleasure of staying, it also served as inspiration for, not one, but two different locations in the Heather Bay Romance Series. The restaurant, with its view right out onto the loch, is more or less how I picture the restaurant at Jack Buchanan’s distillery, The 39:
The log cabin we stayed in, meanwhile, was the inspiration for Scarlett Scott’s house:
I can just see her standing out on this balcony, probably plotting something.
In related news, I really want to go back here…
Eagle Brae Lodges
Still on the subject of hotels, beautiful Eagle Brae, near Inverness, was very much the inspiration behind Emerald View, the log-cabin eco resort Jack Buchanan builds in Impostor Bride, and which Lexie Steele ends up working in during Actress Unscripted…
Again, this is just one of the most perfect places ever, and, if I possibly could, I would drop everything and go there immediately. You should, too, not even joking…
Loch Leven
Loch Leven, in Fife, has an island in the middle, with a ruined castle on it. And so does Loch Keld, which isn’t a major location in the Heather Bay series, but which is nevertheless a big part of the landscape of Heather Bay itself, gets a few mentions. (This, for instance, is where Emerald falls into the water and has to be saved by Jack in Accidental Impostor, and where the two go sailing – or try to go sailing – in Impostor Bride.)
I, thankfully, have never actually fallen into the water here, but that doesn’t mean I never will, so, you know, stay tuned…
Commando Memorial, Spean Bridge
When Lexie Steele and Jett Carter land in Scotland, in The Accidental Actress, they stop briefly at the Commando Memorial en route home to Heather Bay. And here it is…
We always make a brief stop here too, on our way to or from the Highlands. Not only are the views from here amazing in their own right, it’s also one of the most moving war memorials I’ve ever seen, and well worth a visit.
No Hollywood stars, though, unfortunately. Shame.
The Birnam Oak, Birnam Wood, Perthshire
“You have to put this in a book,” said my husband, when we visited the Birnam Oak a couple of years ago. And, honestly? I wasn’t convinced. Because the Birnam Oak? Is a tree. And, guys, I hate to admit this, but trees are just not all that interesting to me. I’m sorry, but they’re not.
(Also, it was cold and raining, and I was wearing sandals. Well, would you want to treck through a damp forest in sandals?)
(Max at the Birnam Oak, which is too big to fit in a single photo. Yes, he has a teddy bear on a stick…)
This tree, however, has connections to Shakespeare, with Birnam Wood earning a mention in MacBeth. That, of course, is why Jett Carter wanted to visit it… and why Lexie got dragged along, too. She was just as impressed as I was, basically, but at least she got to have an almost kiss with a movie star for her trouble, and I just got this kind of rubbish photo of my child next to a gaping hole.
Here is my ‘visiting the Birnam Oak’ face:
I feel you, Lexie. I feel you…
My next book, meanwhile, will feature an new fictional Scottish town and location, some of which is inspired by real places in Scotland, so stay tuned for news on that, which I’m hoping to be able to share with you soon. And, until then, don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter, to make sure you’re one of the first to hear about it!
