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Felicitas Macfie
Name: Felicitas Macfie
Born: Munich
Lived in Scotland: 17 years
A Touch of German Class
Felicitas Macfie runs the Macfie Trading Company in the elegant setting of Stevenson House in Edinburgh, childhood home of the famous Scottish writer, Robert Louis Stevenson. She came to Scotland 17 years ago and has carved her own very special niche in the Scottish market...
"I came here as a student and now I am a mother of four and a businesswoman," explains Felicitas.
Felicitas first came to Edinburgh on holiday in 1985. Then after completing a Degree in Hospitality and Hotel Management at the Hotel Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, she went straight into the fourth year of the BA course in Hospitality at Napier University.
"I met my husband John on my first visit to Edinburgh and we married in 1989."
Felicitas and John started the Macfie Trading Company in 1993.
"We started the company twelve years ago after realising the potential of the Stevenson House as a specialist venue and wishing to combine a career with motherhood."
"We run the house as a Bed and Breakfast and I host lunches, dinners, receptions and conferences."
"I also recently started a travel agency branch of the company, through which I offer advice to tourism businesses worldwide on matters such as staff training, quality and standards, and how to improve their business."
As part of her work, Felicitas also promotes Scotland abroad, recently visiting her home country where she sang Scotland's praises.
"You don't have to persuade people to come to Scotland, just facilitate their journey! About 200,000 Germans visit here per year and we would like to raise that number substantially."
"People do have this notion of Scotland from films such as Highlander and Braveheart which shows the rugged beauty of the country. So I only need to fine tune their preconceptions – I always tell them how much this country has to offer, from the arts to history to the beautiful gardens. It also shows you what an amazing marketing tool the film industry can be!".
"There's everything for everybody here – it's a world in one country. Scotland is terribly easy to promote!"
Felicitas sees Edinburgh as a place of the most amazing opportunities and unparalleled quality of life.
"It gives you infinite scope and you don't have to fit into any pigeonhole (category). You can follow your own destiny whatever you want it to be."
"I, for example, would like in future to use my expertise in strategic event management and my passion for the arts and move into the organisation of one of Edinburgh's arts festivals. Speaking four languages and having the professional skills as well as a large dose of common sense and the ability to think "outside the box" is a useful set of tools in that respect!".
"There is an enormous cultural offering – you can do everything from the visual to the performing arts – it's hard to sit still and not be doing something here.
"Scotland has a huge amount going for it. Where else can you live in the city centre of a European capital city and be in rolling green meadows within 20 minutes?"
Feeling so at home here, Felicitas had no problems integrating into the Edinburgh community.
"It all happened so naturally, I didn’t even notice I was doing it."
As well as being the family home to Felicitas, husband John and their four children – Max (13), Caspar (11), Victoria (7) and Felix (3) – and the base for Macfie Trading, 17 Heriot Row also has a very famous former resident.
Their beautiful Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh's historic New Town, was the childhood home of Scotland's most famous writer, Robert Louis Stevenson.
Author of classic books such as Kidnapped, Treasure Island and Jekyll and Hyde and a Child's Garden of Verse, his celebrated book of children's poems, Stevenson lived there from the age of six in 1856 until 1880.
A small plaque featuring the words from the third verse of his charming poem, The Lamplighter, can be found on the railings outside the house (Leerie is the Scots word for lamplighter):
"For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight."
(from A Child's Garden of Verse by Robert Louis Stevenson)
The main bathroom still has the original enamel bath, installed by his father Thomas Stevenson with antique shower overhead. So what sort of reaction do the Macfies receive when visitors come to Stevenson House?
"There is a stunning degree of interest in Stevenson. I find it humbling when people come to the house and it's very rewarding to welcome them. They constantly re-alert us to the beauty of the house and they're very appreciative of being allowed in."
"Everybody who comes here brings something of their own experiences of having grown up with A Child's Garden of Verse or having studied him at university. You could say 'our life's basket gets filled all the time with exotic fruits, there to be shared with the next guests!".
Life in Edinburgh has changed somewhat since Felicitas moved here 17 years ago.
"Edinburgh is definitely becoming far more cosmopolitan. Where 60 years ago a German moving to Edinburgh would have raised a few eyebrows, now it's so different. There are around 35,000 Germans now living in Scotland and we are but one of the many international communities here. It's also very fitting that my home city of Munich is twinned with Scotland's capital Edinburgh."
"The arrival of Broadband internet and email, even the availability of cheaper direct flights to Europe have made things easier – we are much more in contact with the world, making Scotland so much more accessible."
Felicitas and John's children were all born in Scotland (two of them even in the Stevenson House itself) but they speak both German and English in the home.
"It's lovely because they feel 100% Scottish and 100% German. My own family are keen to visit us here and I make sure I travel regularly to see them – these links are very important to German and Scottish families alike."
And finally, asking Felicitas what tips she would give someone considering coming to live, work or study in Scotland, she says:
"I think it's important for anyone moving here to bring the essential comforts – anything which conjures up feelings of home – books, pictures, special foods. And keep as open a mind as possible towards all your new experiences. If the weather gets you down, head for the tropical glasshouses of the Botanics or the National Gallery – both are greatly comforting places!"
"I find that the community in Edinburgh is keenly interested in mixing with newcomers. So plan an early housewarming and invite as many people as you can... and me!"
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