The Long Way Home
As I get older, I find myself looking back with a sense of gratitude while still looking ahead to the next adventure. Work has always been important to me, and that sense of purpose continues to guide what comes next. It has been my passport to remarkable places, fascinating people and experiences that many people only read about. Life has rarely been dull, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Since turning 60 last year, I found myself thinking there are no more hills to climb, from where I am standing, I can see a vast vibrant landscape: rich and varied, with woodland, wildlife, clear streams and paths disappearing into the distance. It feels open, full of possibility, and inviting rather than demanding. There are still paths to follow and places to explore, but now it’s about choosing what draws me forward. People, place and wildlife have always been my subject.
I was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, where ponies, gundogs, shoot days and the Scottish countryside were part of everyday life. My fascination with deer began long before I ever picked up a camera. When I was four or five, my mum took me to the cinema to see Bambi, and something about those woodland scenes stayed with me. I had no idea then that decades later I would spend countless dawn and dusk out on roe deer stalks, long days on the hill during the red deer season, and many hours writing about the people and landscapes that have dedicated their lives to deer management.
After leaving school, I enrolled on an Art & Design Foundation course in Edinburgh. Creativity had always been part of who I was, but before long another opportunity caught my attention. Rather than finishing the course, I packed my bags and headed south to London in search of adventure, curious to see what life had in store.
In London I built a successful career in recruitment before becoming self-employed. Recruitment taught me how to listen, ask the right questions, and understand what motivates people. Looking back, I realise those skills have shaped everything I have done since.
By the turn of the millennium, I was ready for a change. London had become busier, noisier and more crowded. I wanted space and more importantly, I wanted a fresh challenge. I moved out to the home counties and taught myself photography and began calling newspaper and magazine picture desks looking for work. One of my earliest assignments was photographing a Burns Night supper in Gloucestershire, and I quickly realised I loved capturing the characters, atmosphere and stories behind them.
A conversation with two successful female photographers changed the direction of my career. At the time I was working in news and magazine photography, but I was looking for something more satisfying. Their advice was simple: specialise. Country sports photography felt like the most natural decision I could have made because it was a world I already knew. Before long I was photographing shoot days and the people whose working lives are deeply connected to the land, and my lifelong fascination with deer found a natural home alongside my photography.
An editor asked me to write the words that accompanied my photographs, and it immediately felt right. I was there as an observer, my words and images worked hand in hand, sharing the early starts, long walks, weather, and conversations, so writing became another way of telling the story. Soon I was writing features and columns alongside taking pictures. Later came books. Some celebrated country sports and the countryside. Others explored humour, relationships and everyday life. They all had one thing in common: they were all about the interesting people I meet.
Writing naturally led to new opportunities, and whenever I felt there was a gap, I found myself creating something rather than waiting for someone else to do it. In 2005 I founded an online community that grew far beyond anything I had imagined and taught me the value of bringing like-minded people together. Fifteen years later, during the pandemic, I launched Scotland in 4 Seasons magazine, and today those same ideas have evolved into Linda Mellor’s Countryside Chronicle, bringing together my writing, photography, books, podcasts and now, this mailing list.
Creating projects was one part of the story. Deciding where I wanted to build my life was another. I’ve always wanted to live in beautiful countryside places, and I’ve been fortunate enough to do exactly that. After London came the Cotswolds, then Devon, Wales and Cumbria, before moving back to Scotland in 2010 and settling first in the Lowlands. Today I live in the Highlands, where I feel completely at home.
I see one continuous thread. Whether I was recruiting, photographing, writing, publishing or recording a podcast, I was always doing the same thing – observing, listening and sharing stories about people, place and wildlife. That’s what this mailing list is all about. It’s a place where I’ll share the stories that catch my attention, the interesting characters I meet, the wildlife that continues to fascinate me, and the conversations that leave a lasting impression. Some will make you smile; others may make you think differently, but all of them will come from genuine curiosity and a lifetime spent exploring the countryside and the people whose lives are shaped by it. If that sounds like your sort of journey, I’d love you to join my mailing list. It’s where I share new stories, photographs, podcasts and the occasional behind-the-scenes glimpse before they appear anywhere else.
