About Us
Hi, we are husband and wife tour guiding team, Andrew and Diane Nicholson. A very big welcome to Virtual Tours of Scotland. Thank you for visiting our site. You can see our web and social media page links here: https://linktr.ee/virtualtoursofscotland
We are passionate about this beautiful country - Scotland - and its remarkable history. We both feel a deep connection with the Scottish Highlands and have immersed ourselves in its culture and past. We’ve studied Clan history, the Jacobites, Geneaology and Palaeography (the study of ancient and historical handwriting). Much of our spare time is spent visiting historic sites, studying ancient maps, and collecting historic books & artefacts. We adore rare book shops, antique shops and enjoy spending time at museums and places like the Highland Archive Centre. It’s like stepping back in time and experiencing the Highlands as it was in the 18th century. So deeply have we researched the history of many of our tour locations, that we are able to walk the paths and streets and see them as they were back then, almost as clearly as we see them now. We love to share this experience with you in our Virtual Tours of Scotland.
Outlander and the other Scottish tours we operate have brought everything we both love into one place, allowing us to share it with others… Scotland, history, Highland culture, photography, past lives, soulmate connections…
Our touring business was never just a job. It is who we are, and what we are deeply passionate about. Our home reflects this. You can check out our free 'Banter and Blether with Andy and Di' virtual tour of our home (coming to this channel soon) to get to know us and see and many of the Scottish and historic artefacts that we have collected on our travels.
We are big fans of Outlander and we are indeed Outlanders ourselves. Di was born in South Africa and Andy was born in England, though his grandparents were MacDonalds and Clan Nicholson or Nicolson originated on one of our favourite places - The Isle of Skye. Did you know that as well as being used to describe people from outside Scotland, the term Outlander actually originated from Di’s native South Africa?
Though South African by birth, Di has an irish passport. Her family left South Africa when she was quite young and lived in Ireland, where her grandparents are from. They then moved to South Wales, before Di flew the nest to live and work in London. She fell in love with Scotland and Inverness on a holiday and could not resist the strong, seemingly unexplainable pull to live here, which she did for 22 years.
Andy and Di met in 2007, when Andy was living and working in Austria. He returned to England and Di came to live with him in Warwickshire. However, Di's heart was always in Scotland, so Andy brought her home to Culloden in February 2013, back to the house that she loved so deeply. In 2013, Andy & Di married, with a a traditional Celtic Handfasting Ceremony (like Jamie and Clare) and ‘Tied the Knot’. This is something we offer married couples who tour with us - to renew their wedding vows in a beautiful location.
After a period together enjoying exploring the locality and local history, with photographer Andy in 'photography heaven' they discovered Outlander. This inspired them to start their tour guiding business called Outlander: The Past LIves Experience. This quicky became very successful and was incorporated into a Limited Company called Tour the Scottish Highlands Ltd, which is the umbrella organisation for all of our tours, be they Outlander, Virtual Tours, or other Scottish themed tours.
Another aspect of our tours and taking you back in time is Diane's Past Life Regression. As a qualified hypnotherapist, Di specialises in Past Life Regression and provide a safe space for clients to experience their own journey back through time. This is very popular and can be quite a profound experience. It is a volutary aspect of our multiday Outlander Tours and Di regularly conducts sessions over Skype and Zoom as well. You can read more about Past Life Regression with Di here.
Please browse our Virtual Tours of Scotland cataloque to see what we offer.
