A woman who started the People-Walking Company was told she would never walk properly again

But she refused to give in to her injury and has now set up Britain and Ireland’s first people walking company.

The 56-year-old’s bespoke tours with Walk It Off NI have garnered so much international interest that she’s even been interviewed for Access Hollywood.

In 2015, the former Lloyds insurer was told by doctors she would never regain full mobility after a skiing accident. The super fit mum of one – an aerialist at Belfast Community Circus School – says she is devastated by the news.

“I was about to turn 50 and I just thought this was the end of my life. So it would be that I might not be able to walk properly anymore.

“It was a big shock because I was in circus school and I was fitter than I’ve ever been in my life.”

She was enjoying a family vacation on the slopes when another skier cut her open and Nikki suffered serious injuries. She fractured her tibia and fibula, destroyed her anterior cruciate ligament and had bone fragments in her knee.

At home, the damage required a six-hour surgery to repair, during which part of her thigh muscles were removed to restore the knee ligament.

“It was like being shot in the knee at the time. I went over the hill and my knee went down the hill.

“I lost the ligament that keeps your upper bones from going over your lower bones. After the surgery, the hamstrings ruptured several times because the back of my knee wasn’t as strong as before.

“I had to relearn how to walk because there was a whole new system in my leg and I had to learn how it worked.

“I did physical therapy three times a day and then went back to Pilates and back to the circus where I could just sit there and keep building my strength.”

Nikki had moved back to Belfast after a successful but stressful career at Lloyds with her banker husband Tony, who was converting to become a pilot, and daughter Freya, now 18. After a series of temporary jobs, she completed a course on data analysis of a sedentary lifestyle and the idea for her company blossomed.

“Because of what happened to me, it started with your space, your pace, your time,” she says.

“Now I design and deliver hiking experiences.”

A chance meeting with Antonia Malcolm – owner of a house in a walled garden next to Lady Dixon Park in Belfast – became Hidden Huntley tours. Nikki has now expanded to Hillsborough Royal Brew in downtown Co as part of the Royal Hillsborough and Historic Moira initiative and also works with men’s sheds and businesses.

“On Hidden Huntley we take a 1 hour walk together on a loop trail and talk about the heritage and culture and the trees that have been there for hundreds of years before we head into Huntley where the food on your plate rises from the ground beneath you comes from.” Feet,” says Nikki.

“In Hillsborough we talk about the history and heritage of the village brewery.

“It helps people connect in different ways. We have to take care of our wellbeing especially after Covid and it’s easier to communicate by moving and looking at trees and flowers.

“The conversation goes differently and by the time the group eats together, the ice is completely broken.”