I’m a writer and journalist from Scotland. But I’ve lived in Belgium for more than 30 years. Long enough to get to know the country and its secret places. As a former editor-in-chief of the Belgian magazine The Bulletin and regular contributor to brusselstimes.com, I’ve written countless articles, as well as bestselling guidebooks in the series the500hiddensecrets.com focusing on Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, and Hidden Belgium.

I’ve been leading small groups on walking tours through the streets of several Belgian cities for more than ten years. I especially like to take people to the places that no one knows about in Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and Ypres. I love the hidden lanes, the unexpected shops, the old cafes. You can get to know some of my favourite spots by taking a look at my website mysecretbrussels.com

I created my first Voicemap tour in the relatively unknown city of Ghent, where I designed a route that would highlight unknown spots and unusual anecdotes. My next tour was shaped to show off some of my favourite spots in Brussels. Then I put together a walk in the port city of Antwerp to reveal some of the places I think make this city exceptional. I then decided to guide people around the ancient city of Ypres where reminders of World War One have marked almost every building from the mediaeval cloth hall to the city walls. My next project involved the modest Flemish city of Mechelen where the sound of church bells follows you through the streets. More recently, I've added the curious and sometimes absurd twin border towns of Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog where national frontiers run through private houses, shops and the local library.

When I'm not exploring hidden Belgium, I like to tramp across Scottish hills, take slow ferries to remote Greek islands, and swim in cold Finnish lakes.