Tours
Scotland’s tour guides are some of our very best storytellers. For the Year of Stories, a number of tour companies put the year's logo and hashtags into their promotional activity. Some even created new tours.
Mercat Tours
Edinburgh-based Mercat Tours got on board with the Themed Year from the start.
Using the campaign hashtags on their social posts, they highlighted some of the cities lesser-known tales. They also used it to draw attention to the range of ghost tours and history walks they provide in the capital.
In April, they launched a social impact project; Our Stories, Your City. This supported vulnerable people in Edinburgh through storytelling.
Raising funds, this allowed members of the Grassmarket Community Project a chance to enjoy a tour and attraction for free.
Scottish Tourism Guides Association
The Scottish Tourist Guides Association have been ambassadors for the Themed Year.
Creating a dedicated Year of Stories page, they produced monthly stories about all sorts of subjects. These ranged from the real Robinson Crusoe to the Scottish born founder of Australia.
Professional guides created the online content in a range of formats. These included videos, podcasts, and written stories.
Browse the Scottish Tourism Guides Association Year of Stories page.
The Real Mary King's Close
The Real Mary King's Close invites visitors to follow Edinburgh’s former residents and hear their real stories on a tour of The Real Mary King’s Close.
The company used the Year of Stories logo on promotional materials. For example, they celebrated the year with a blog that highlighted Edinburgh’s storytellers and the city’s legacy in literature.
They also created the stories & wonders gin tasting tours in partnership with Edinburgh Gin. Running during July, these offered visitors the chance to sample four unique gins with historical links to the city.
During the tour, visitors also could hear some of the stories behind Edinburgh’s trade in ale, whisky, and gin.
Dark Dundee Tours
Dark Dundee Tours are another company who took inspiration from the Themed Year.
Creating several new tours, they showcased the lesser-known side of the city. This included "Fannies & Belters" and "Sails, Tails and Whales".
Mostly Ghostly
Mostly Ghostly’s popular tours and events, explore the darker and more curious sides of Dumfries & Galloway's history. Take, for example, the Festival of Folklore.
The company made great use of the Year of Stories campaign hashtags on their promotional activity across the year. They even introduced a partnership inspired by Year of Stories.
Kathleen Cronie, founder of Mostly Ghostly, joined DJ Kenny Murray of Alive Radio as a co-presenter. Together, they delivered a storytelling element on the Alive & Local programme.
Attractions
Scotland’s visitor attractions are packed with stories. A number of venues used the Themed Year to create new projects, events and online content in 2022. All of this showed and celebrated what makes their attractions unique.
Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle took inspiration from Scotland’s Year of Stories to put on a summer festival and Great Storytelling Search in July 2022.
These included interactive storytelling, Bookbug events, and the Great Summer Storytelling Search.
This last example took visitors of all ages for a bespoke tour in the castle grounds with a mix of popular fables, spooky tales, and historical facts.
Isle of Cumbrae Distillers
Scotland’s Year of Stories provided the inspiration for a new gin created by Isle of Cumbrae Distillers. These gin makers in Millport are known for creating award-winning gins and their distillery tours.
The all-female distilling team decided to produce a new gin, Maura, a Celtic name referring to the "star of the sea".
The gin celebrates Scotland's women, who helped shape its history. It also honours the legends and stories of the sea. The bottle even features a specially designed label by Scottish painter Hope Blamire.
Shetland Museum and Archives
Shetland Museum and Archives hosted a series of events as part of the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund. Their event had Shetland’s community stories at its heart.
Activities included workshops, a storytelling competition, exhibition and series of films.
Browse the Shetland Museum and Archives created a dedicated webpage.
Rosslyn Chapel
In November 2022, Rosslyn Chapel launched an initiative as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022. They asked visitors from around the world to share a story about the attraction.
The chapel, which was founded in 1446, has featured in a number of stories, most notably Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code.
But the building also attracted visitors for generations, many of whom have recorded their stories in travel journals.
The Scotch Whisky Experience
The Scotch Whisky Experience on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile also chose to align their activity with the Themed Year.
They used the campaign hashtags alongside their own #collectionchronicles social posts. These highlighted a different story each week about one of the bottles in their whisky collection.
Year of Stories was also a good match for their Tasting Tales events. These included stories about Scotch, the distilleries, and the Scottish food to which they matched the whiskies.