Dogs, caravans & Scottish adventures
A long overdue update, Cotswolds recommendations & Scotland plans
Last week we spent the night in a four-star hotel in the Cotswolds. The dog snoozed on his very own bed provided by the hotel, ate had smoked salmon for breakfast, and got to roam free on the hotel’s lawns and through the finely clipped hedges of an Italianate garden. He was, as he always is within the confines of luxury, in his element. As you can see, he really does fit in among the finery.
I shan’t tell him, then, that we are about to give up our home to live in a tiny, 2-by-4-metre caravan without a toilet or a shower, and drive around Scotland for the next five months. I suspect it’s a case of what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him — until it’s too late and he’s forced to snooze on the dinette while I cook dinner mere metres away, before turfing him off to build the bed.
I jest, of course. He’s a bougee boy at times, sure, but really his only pre-requisite for accommodation is a soft blanket and my company. He’s a simple dog at heart, though would never turn down a super-king bed like the one we shared at The Manor House in Castle Combe.
This slightly mad, perhaps ambitious trip around Scotland isn’t a futile endeavour: we have mission. We’re working on another guidebook — Dog-Friendly Weekends: Scotland (publishing with Bradt Guides in summer 2026). Each chapter will focus on a different region or town or city, and we’ll sniff out the best places to take your dogs, be it museums, boat trips, great pubs, fancy restaurants or just beautiful places to stay.
Alongside this, I’m also working on another Bradt Guide on taking dogs to the Cotswolds, a region I’ve been writing about for a decade — hence our trip to Castle Combe. So far we’ve explored Malmesbury (loved The Old Bell Hotel), Tetbury (which has the best pet shop in the world), Cirencester (seriously handsome town with dog-friendly walking tours) and Cheltenham (Cleeve Hill is a winner for walks).
But Scotland and the Cotswolds is just the beginning of a much larger, even more unhinged journey: I’m officially moving out of my house. I've put my home — the house I inherited from my mum after she died in 2022 — up for rent, so there's no turning back. I am committing to a life on the road for the next 12 months at the very least.
It's a slightly scary prospect — I'll spend five months in Scotland first, but beyond September, I have only very loose plans for where I'll live. I have my caravan, my dog, and a Portapotti with a privacy tent for emergencies, and I’m going to go full nomad. I know #vanlife isn’t the romantic adventure many content creators have made it out to be, but I feel like I need this adventure: I’ve been wading through the grief of losing my uncle and first dog in 2020, then my mum in 2022, and my aunt not long after. The last five years have been the hardest of my life, and while I’ve had incredible highs (publishing two books was pretty sweet), the lows have been intense and impactful.
I know I’m not ready to give up the home my mum left behind permanently, which is why I’m letting it to friends who will let me pop back in every now and then over the next year or so. But I know I need some space from this house — and to step outside of the comfort zone that is my home town. This plan might seem like an extreme solution, but it feels right to me for some reason. And I’m hoping the dog agrees — even if he won’t get salmon for breakfast every day.
The Scottish plan in a van
I will, of course, be documenting my trip on Instagram and on this newsletter over the next year. In the meantime, I’d love any tips you might have for me — here’s a list of the places I’m planning to visit in no sensible order. I’d love to hear any recommendations you might offer!
Glasgow
Stirling
The Fife coast
Dundee
The Cairngorms
Aberdeen
Edinburgh
The Tweed Valley
Galloway Forest Park
Dumfries
The Ayrshire Coast
Loch Lomond
Arran
The Kintyre Peninsula
Islay & Jura
Oban
Caledonian Canal
Skye
Uist
Harris & Lewis
Loch Ness & Inverness
NC500 east coast
Loch Tay Forest Park
Read next:
Do reactive dogs deserve holidays?
Dog reactivity is a fairly common problem, but it still comes with an enormous amount of shame and judgement. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have asked “Oh, is he a rescue then?” and I’ve had to reply with some variation of “No, he was just born a d*ckhead”.
Buy my books! Get Dog Days Out here, or buy Dog-Friendly Weekends here.
Good luck! I can recommend the nomad thing. Full time for nearly 2 years so far, currently in Ivory Coast. Drove here!! 😬😃.
Also Scottish, as it happens. Check out Tentsmuir beach in Fife, and almost any part of the Fife coastal path for lovely walks and cute fishing villages.
Happy travels.
I’m so excited for alllllll of this! As someone with a strong instinct for staying in my comfort zone it’s almost unfathomably brave and I can’t wait to follow along.