A miscellany of anecdotes and experiences are drawn from 27 years of living in the Hebrides Many people dream of living a simpler life in beautiful, natural surroundings. Our dream became reality when we moved to the tiny Hebridean island of Colonsay in 1991. My wife became head teacher of the island school and I, in addition to being part-time teacher and occasional bus driver, embarked on botanical research. Seven years later, we moved to the larger Isle of Islay and for 20 years our garden included a rocky shore frequented by otters. Our experiences on the two contrasting islands form the basis for this well-illustrated talk but it is enhanced by accounts of our extensive travels throughout the islands of Scotland’s west coast. One of these, Tiree, inspired Mavis to write The Hagstone Chronicles, a trilogy of magical adventures which was published by Cinnamon Press. Living on islands necessitates involvement in the community. Our biggest contribution was our role as the original botanists of The Botanist Gin which is distilled on Islay. Referred to briefly here, this global success story is covered fully in another presentation.