about us

I am a Scotsman who was born and brought up in the former shipbuilding area of Glasgow called Govan. I attended Govan High School which amongst its alumni are ex Prime Minister Tony Blair's father, Leo, and Soccer legend Sir Alex Ferguson manager of Manchester United. Similar to these people I have applied our school motto "Nihil Sine Labore" (nothing without work) to my life.

Throughout my school days and into my adult life, I enjoyed hill walking, and various other outdoor pursuits. These activities led me to explore many of Scotland’s lesser known areas of beauty. From high school, I graduated from University of Dundee, College of Nursing as a Registered Nurse specializing in Mental Health (RMN). As I progressed through my career I lived in both England and Wales.
In 1997 I met a fellow RN, Joan who happened to be living in Central Pennsylvania. We fell in love and got married. In getting married I moved to the States, but kept strong connections back to Scotland where my family and friends still reside.

Throughout my time in the States many people, on hearing my accent would often ask me for assistance in planning a trip to Scotland. I was always glad to oblige. I would also meet people who had visited Scotland on large organized tours made up mostly of Americans. They would tell me of travelling from site to site but with limited time to meet the locals. These two things combined led to me forming this tour company. My main objective being to plan tours that maximized the opportunity to fully experience Scottish culture. In my opinion the way to do that is to include social experiences that allow visitors to meet Scottish people in their homes and local social hangouts.

Being a nurse didn't exactly qualify me as an expert tour guide so I enrolled at the local community college to study Travel and Tourism. At the same time I accepted a position organizing and leading high end VIP tours of a local tourist attraction. I also got certified as a "Scots Specialist" by Visit Scotland(the Scottish Tourism Board).

Joan is still a practicing Registered Nurse, but does involve herself in some aspects of tour preparation and answering questions. In many ways Joan adds to the uniqueness of Clootie Dumpling Tours. As an American she is often able to give a tourist perspective to the worth of an attraction or location.

We are both very customer centered, and will always go the extra mile to meet your needs.

We look forward to meeting you.