I’m really excited to be starting a new series of posts, championing individuals and small businesses who are doing their bit to encourage people to reconnect with the great outdoors.
This week I’m chatting with Mitchell Partridge from Skye Ghillie Fly Fishing who has set up his own wild walking and fly fishing business on the Isle of Skye.
So tell us a bit more about your business, when did you set it up and what do you offer?
I set up my business in 2005 after being an estate based ghillie for 5 years. I offer fly fishing for salmon, trout and seat trout for experienced and novice anglers. I also guide parties on wild walks. We go in search of red deer, otters, eagles, seals and many other species of flora and fauna. Along the way I also teach bush craft, survival techniques and wild cooking.
After leaving the military I worked in the hospitality industry for a while, but disliked the confines of a job based indoors – I longed to be back outside. My parents bought a hotel on the Isle of Skye and I was lucky to be offered the position of ghillie on the estate, I have fly fished since I was a small boy. My family sold the hotel, undaunted by this and loving my job and life on Skye I set up Skye Ghillie Fly Fishing in 2005. The business grew and I started guiding on wild walks in 2006.
What do you love most about the area?
I’m based on the Isle of Skye about 3 miles north west of the Islands capitol Portree. The best thing about my job is that every day really is different. It’s not just the landscape and weather that varies dramatically; one day I’m teaching 10 Ukrainians the art of casting a fly, the next I’m guiding a family from London – who aren’t used to the great outdoors – looking for otters and cooking them fresh mussels they have picked themselves on a fire they have lit with a flint steel.
What’s the best thing about your job?
There is such bio-diversity on Skye. You can be on the sea shore exploring the rock pools and spotting for a wide range of marine life and a short walk later you are up in the hills amongst the heather looking for eagles, deer and red grouse and drinking from a crystal clear stream.
Why do you think it’s important for people to spend time in the great outdoors?
Being outdoors in a wonderful unspoiled landscape is an exhilarating experience. I don’t like to use the phrase ‘getting back to nature’ because I don’t think we ever left it, but a few hours in the wilds brings back a feeling of belonging and contentment, which I think lies in every one of us.
www.skyeghillieflyfishing.co.uk
Know a person or a great little outdoors business that should be profiled in this series? Let me know in the comments section below and I’ll be in touch.
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Hi and welcome. I'm a freelance travel and lifestyle copywriter and editor, with a passion for the great outdoors. This is my personal blog all about getting out in the fresh air and reconnecting with our green spaces and countryside.
