I’ve known Vivien since – ahem – First Year at Jordanhill School in Glasgow back in the ‘olden days’ of the 20th Century. As well as running her own publishing company and being a regular contributor to Scottish Islands Explorer magazine, Vivien is currently coaching actors in Gaelic for auditions for Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series presently being filmed in Scotland.
According to Wikipedia, Scotland has a total of 790 offshore islands. Although I’m Scottish by birth, I can – sadly – only admit to having visited four of them: Arran, Bute, Skye and Mull.
The southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides, The Island of Islay, lies 40 km north of the Irish coast. With a population of 3,000, the island’s main industries are agriculture, whisky and tourism and was featured in the film The Maggie which led to a long-running series on BBC TV, The Vital Spark.
In her latest article in this month’s edition of Scottish Islands Explorer, Vivien offers insights into the history of the Island of Islay: Celtic saints, marriage stones, naval strongholds, ancient ruins, plague villages and shipwrecks. Please check it out, and if you plan to visit Scotland, consider visiting this beautiful island.
Diana Cranstoun 
Who knew that she was coaching actors! Very exciting.
I agree.
If you go to the magazine website to the current issue and look at the pic under the cover pic – that picture makes me want to pack up and go NOW.
They’re pretty lovely pictures, aren’t they!
I’ve always want to go to Islay. I even placed one of my stories there. It’s such a fascinating place. It’s on the list of places to go when I retire.
It looks gorgeous, doesn’t it. I’ve never made it there myself either but would love to go some day.