Major Project- Selecting a Location for the Fairwether Lodge

Recently I have been putting some thought into where I could have the location of the Fairwether Lodge. Having changed my location from America to the UK, I have come across several problems. The first is that the UK is considerably smaller than the USA. I wanted the location of the Lodge to be somewhere isolated, somewhere it could be reasonable for someone to get lost at, and the mountains of Massachusetts in America, and the original fictional "Crystal Hills" location fit this criteria.

Moving the location to the UK brought up the problem of isolation. Being a smaller location than America, it is significantly harder for someone to get lost, or not be able to make it back to civilization. This is where I thought of having Scotland as the location of the lodge.
Although Scotland is a different country to England, where all the main characters come from, it is still attached and it is therefore reasonable to think that the main characters could realistically make it to Scotland.

Another major aspect of me choosing a location, was how realistically a person could be stranded at that location. The original mountain setting of Massachusetts meant that it would be very unlikely a stranded person would be able to make it through the sub-zero weather, down the mountain (without being attacked by animals or frozen to death) and back to civilization. However, the Scottish Highland location does fit this criteria.

I spoke with a classmate; Alex Barker (who has lived in Scotland) about whether or not the Highlands were remote enough for my story scenario to take place. And after doing some research on Google maps and speaking with him, it seems that the Highlands are a massive collection of fields that span many many miles. It would seem that finding a way around in the Highlands (especially in winter and blizzards) would be a very difficult task to do without a vehicle.

Alex also informed me that there are several mountainous regions in Scotland, which would be a fantastic replacement for the mountains of Massachusetts which I originally had the story set at.
Therefore, due to it's isolation and beautiful scenery, I have created a fictional region in the Scottish Highland called "Lochwood Hills", where the main segments of the story will take place.