Wallpaper Inspired by My Travels to a 17th-Century Village in Scotland
Plus, six tips if you want to earn money from your travels
Travel with me to the picturesque village of Culross, Scotland, located in the Kingdom of Fife, less than an hour’s drive from Edinburgh. Described by the National Trust for Scotland as “Scotland’s most complete example of a burgh of the 17th and 18th centuries. White-harled houses with red-tiled roofs line the steep cobbled streets which run from the market cross to the hilltop abbey. In the center is the ochre-coloured palace with its beautifully reconstructed period garden, complete with herbs, fruit and vegetables, and rare Scots Dumpy hens. Get a sense of what it would have been like to live in Culross Palace in its prime, with original painted woodwork and beautifully restored 17th- and 18th-century interiors.”
Learn how a day in Culross inspired me to illustrate the former port city nestled against the shores of the Firth of Forth. Plus, get tips on how to turn your travel memories into business products.
I spent a rare and warm sunny September day in Culross exploring the palace and surrounding alleyways and narrowed cobbled roads. It was one of the most dreamy places I’ve visited in my escapades across Scotland—so much so that I took my travels home with me to create (what I believe is) the first Culross Village wallpaper pattern.
For me, the hardest part of travel is holding onto that special invigorating feeling that experiencing the world gives you when it’s time to go back home to the “real world”. Don’t get me wrong, home is my favorite place for many reasons. But would I rather be exploring elsewhere 75% of the time? YES.
So, call it living in the past or call it preserving memories and making money off my travels—I’m going to do all of those things, thank you very much!
If you want to make money while traveling too, it helps to think of it as one revenue stream within your larger business plan. It’s not meant to be a sole source of income, though if it is, I’m not at all mad about it. If you’re interested in exploring this concept, below are some ideas to keep in mind the next time you book your next adventure.
6 TIPS TO EARN MONEY FROM YOUR TRAVELS
Tip 1: Soak up the moment
Remember, you travel to experience life and learn about the world around you. Allow yourself to be in the moment and enjoy being. For me, nothing compares to strumming my fingers through a patch of wildflowers amongst the Scottish hills, or climbing the same flight of stairs that people who lived 500 years before me climbed. Or, if you’re an Outlander fan—eating an apple grown in the gardens of ‘Castle Leoch’.
Hint: Many scenes of Outlander were filmed in Culross, including the palace gardens.
Tip 2: Organize your photos
In a month’s time of travel, I end up with 3,000 photos on my phone. This might be excessive. This may be an obvious tip. But if you notice the pattern of a cobbled street, the hidden details of a house, or the particular color of a group of wildflowers—snap a picture, and put those photos in a folder that you can easily reference later.
I like to organize my photos into folders on my iPhone that categorize each location by year—and sometimes by project idea. You’d be surprised how easy it is to set up and the time it saves when looking for a particular series of photos. For simplicity, I use my iPhone because I’m not a photographer and that works for me!
Tip 3: Respect the culture
We all find inspiration and beauty in the work of another—be it a painting, a traditional song, architecture, or in textiles for example. Absolutely be inspired by your travels—just remember to develop your ideas intentionally and independently of what you’re inspired by. Your original work translates to a unique product no one else has made and you want to honor someone else’s creations in the same way.
Tip 4: Decide on your product
Depending on your core business, decide what kind of service or products you want to offer relating to your travels. Designers will incorporate their experiences into designs they sell, writers and travel bloggers will do the same through sponsored blog content or by offering travel guides through a paywall. Whatever your thing is, brainstorming ways to combine a needed product with your desire to travel is the first step in creating a viable product that will add to this revenue stream.
Tip 5: Create your product
Use a print-on-demand service to produce your physical merchandise. There’s many different companies to choose from depending on your needs—all with varying levels of price points and quality. Do your research. One thing you can count on though is that print-on-demand is more accessible to you as a creator, and it’s better for the environment.
Tip 6: Launch your product to your email list
Once your travel-based product is in hand, it’s time to launch it to your audience! If you haven’t started building your email list, you should do it today. Every business owner, designer, or entrepreneur can’t afford to run their business without a way to directly communicate with their audience through an owned channel. To learn more about why that is, subscribe to my newsletter. I’ll send you my free 13-page guide that dives deep into my 10 tips for optimizing your email strategy so you can put your best foot forward!
My Culross Village design is available to license, or to purchase on fabric, wallpaper, and home decor to anyone who wants to bring this magical Scottish village home with them, too. If you are interested in licensing this design or any others, please send an email to license@laurieshipley.com.
HOW TO PRONOUNCE CULROSS
Depending on your accent, it’s pronounced Coo-riss or Coo-rus.
HOW TO GET TO CULROSS, SCOTLAND BY CAR
Culross is about an hour's drive from Edinburgh, depending on which route you take, so the instructions below use that as a starting point.
Take the M9 and pass Linlithgow Palace (Mary, Queen of Scots’ birthplace) and The Kelpies (towering mythological water horses). If you’re up making it a full day trip, take a short detour to visit Blackness Castle and Midhope Castle on the way as well.
For a more direct route, drive over the The Queensferry Crossing bridge, then take the A985 at Rosyth until you reach Culross.
Like most villages in the United Kingdom, the roads are narrow, so keep that in mind once you get into Culross. You’ll find the West Car Park on the waterfront is closest to the palace, with a second lot, East Car Park, not far from that. And for a travel tip: I have never had any issues using my phone’s GPS, so I wouldn’t pay extra for ‘navigation’ when booking a car rental. This comes standard in most cars anyway.
