About Isobel

Defying convention, Isobel Wylie Hutchison travelled alone on expeditions that few would attempt, even today. She risked life and limb collecting plants, pioneering new routes across inhospitable terrain, boarding ghost ships and capturing some of the earliest documentary footage ever recorded.

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Born at Carlowrie Castle in 1889, Isobel had an idyllic childhood until she lost both her brothers and her father in quick succession. Restless and grieving, she found comfort outdoors and hiking increasingly ambitious routes, laying the groundwork for her inspiring independent and unconventional life.

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Isobel spoke eight languages fluently and was a successful Arctic explorer, botanist, poet, film maker, painter and travel writer. She published a number of books and regularly submitted to newspapers and journals including the National Geographic.

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This blog is dedicated to sharing the story of Scotland’s intrepid explorer and botanist, Isobel Wylie Hutchison, to inspire and release the free spirit within us, through a love and respect for nature and human connections.

 

       When the wander-fit is on me I would up and hie away,

       For Beauty lies in wait for all upon the brink of day;

       Then homely things seem naught to me, I’d leave them far behind

       To travel with the hurrying stars and with the wandering wind.

 

       It’s strange that though my lines are set so fair and pleasant here,

Yet every now and then there comes this whisper through the year—

‘Take up your bed.  Go!  Walk again!  Oh man!  Your days are few,

And lo!  The earth is very wide, her treasure waits for you.’

 

Isobel Wylie Hutchison, ’North to the Rime-ringed Sun’