4 ALBA Saturday November 7 2020 ALBA 5 the times Coastal castles and beach NATURAL RETREATS; LESLEY CHALMERS; OTTER BUNKHOUSE DOWN ON THE FARM bothies on

he Outer and upcycled shacks, a contemporary have always done castle conversion and a quirky country jaw-dropping beaches, house hotel. Last month I crossed the The now have places to sea stacks and standing Minch for a closer look. stay that are as inspiring as the scenery. stones — but accommodation worth scarista house, harris Claire Sawers heads north to a cosy hotel by shouting about? Not A former minister’s house turned small Tso much. These days, however, Lewis hotel in a remote corner of south Harris, the beach and a rustic lochside bunkhouse and Harris have designer beach bothies this Georgian manse gives a warm welcome with lots of chintzy details. Come in soaking after wandering in the dunes, and husband and wife team Tim and Patricia Martin bring you baked The Coastal Carriage at Down on the Farm, which offers family-friendly agritourism breaks in Aberdeenshire treats and mint tea, freshly picked from the garden, to sip by the peat fire in the library. Rooms have worn Persian rugs, antique photo albums and ocean views. A one-way ticket to off-grid There are three bedrooms in the main house and three more in a low-slung house at the back. Think antique sleigh beds covered in rose-patterned bedsheets, a Regency feel with heavy without going off the rails drapes and mustard-gold fabrics. Breakfast can include smoked salmon don’t fancy heading out in your PJs from or black on cold winter nights. pudding, and the team are up early After a restful night thanks to the baking bread for your toast. Dinner has a No phone? No problem. thick countryside darkness, it was sense of occasion: it starts with canapés Plug into nature in a time for my tour of the farm. The in the drawing room, often features local owners, Carole and Matthew Short, lobster, and ends with a Hebridean and converted rail carriage make an impressive team, running the Highland cheeseboard then petits fours. 200-acre farm and accommodation The furnishings are homely and the on the northeast coast, — they also have self-catering Hobbit family spaniel and pug are often found houses and shepherd’s huts — with no looking for someone to play with. says Gillian Furmage outside help or staff. As for location, it’s spectacular. The The tour started with a cup of tea and vast white Scarista beach lies just across was prepared for an “off-grid” shortbread while Carole and Matthew the machair and dunes; the turquoise adventure right up until I openly and honestly discussed the waters of beach are a discovered my cabin had no realities of farm life. It’s tough, and all- 20-minute drive away. Heading north, electricity. In other words, consuming, but the passion emanating you’ll enter a rugged, rocky landscape nowhere to charge my phone. from the hosts was palpable. that doubled as the surface of Jupiter in IThe jolt of panic told me all I need to The farm has breeding cattle and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. know: after too many hours poring 130 Dorset Horn ewes, which can The Calanais Standing Stones are just over multiple screens, I seriously breed more than once a year, so over an hour’s drive away and from needed this weekend. guests can experience lambing even April onwards you can take boat trips to I was staying in a converted vintage outside of spring. As my visit was in St Kilda from Harbour. rail carriage at Down on the Farm mid-September, I was able to enjoy B&B doubles from £175; three-course in Aberdeenshire, a family business one of the final lambing experiences dinner £50 (scaristahouse.com) offering what is an increasingly of the year and even held a silken, popular holiday in : the inquisitive day-old lamb. otter bunkhouse, lewis Top: near Stornaway. Left: Scarista House. Above: agritourism break. After an informative, friendly and Dipping a toe into West Loch Roag near Otter Bunkhouse on West Loch Roag. Cover image: Oran na Mara The carriage accommodation thorough tour, which included bottle- the hamlet of Miavaig, this modern had no electricity, no TV and no feeding a spirited young calf called larch-clad bunkhouse and neighbouring glass Uig Sands restaurant, overlooking of Lewis, the bothies have views across but this ultra-modern thatched stone wifi. What it did have was a view Bruce, I felt more certain than ever bothy share views with a pair of otters the beach where the terrace, sand and sea (£140 per night; house is worth it. On the hillside above of rolling fields, giving way to that I’m not cut out for farming — who often pop up by the front window. were found, is ten minutes’ drive away. sleeps three; thebeachbothies.co.uk). Scarista beach, the three-bedroom steep cliff faces and the it’s not so much a job as an entire The bunkhouse sleeps eight in one Otter Bunkhouse is open for exclusive property has a peat-burning stove, Banffshire coastline. On my lifestyle, running deep in the Short bunk room (the pandemic means you get use only, from £100 per night; Otter Lews Castle, Lewis Hypnos beds and Sonos speakers (from visit you could see across the family bones. I decided that the whole place to yourselves), styled Bothy, sleeping two, costs from £75 Lording it over a handsome park above £2,962 for a one-week minimum stay; water to the Sutherland hills. exploring the surrounding coast with mismatched armchairs and Harris (otterbunkhouse.com) Stornoway, this Victorian castle sleeps six; orannamara.com). The only sounds were the whisper with fishing villages and golden Tweed curtains, and has a basic kitchen Claire Sawers was a guest of Scarista reopened in 2017 after a £19.5 million of the wind and the distant mooing beaches was more my speed. and en suite bathroom. Twenty yards or House and Otter Bunkhouse facelift. It has a museum housing some The Broch, Harris of cattle. Twenty minutes along the coast, so along the shore, the no-frills blue of the Lewis Chessmen, a restaurant and Inspired by the broch on I’ll admit I was nervous about Crovie is the local showstopper. Built corrugated iron bothy has a double bed four more places to stay stylish one to three-bedroom apartments Lewis, the Broch is a Fred Flintstone- going “unplugged”. But after settling at the base of a sea cliff on a narrow that almost touches the mini-kitchen. Beach Bothies, Lewis (from £485 for a three-night minimum meets-Kevin McCloud stone tower with into the cosy cabin, getting the wood ledge, it is one of the best-preserved Neither is luxurious, but both are well Stay in one of two glass-fronted bothies stay; togethertravel.co.uk). a turf roof and sweeping ocean views stove going and cooking up some fishing villages in Europe. It is kitted out, with loch-view decking where above Kneep beach, opened last summer through a full-height window (from £643 pasta, I sat outside, tucked into my impossible to use your car in the you can look for seals and dolphins. by the owners of the Scallop Shack in Oran na Mara, Harris for a three-night minimum stay; sleeps dinner and forgot all about scrolling village, so residents returning from Don’t fancy cooking? The timber-and- Miavaig. Teetering at the western edge You’ll have to book a year in advance, two; borvelodge.com). through feeds or checking Whatsapp. their weekly shop must park near by While the cabin was charming, with and use a wheelbarrow to transport its cutesy interior, tartan furnishings goods home. Gleneagles, Isle of Eriska Glenapp Castle, Cromlix House, Knockinaam and electric fairy lights, the Just around Troup Head RSPB practicalities of the no-frills experience reserve, whose towering cliffs are Perthshire Hotel, Ledaig nr Ballantrae Dunblane Lodge, were less appealing. The “bush shower” home to mainland Britain’s largest For facilities on a grand As you drive over the Relais & Château luxury in A long-established country Portpatrick involved boiling water on the hotplate, gannet colony, Pennan is another scale, other places pale in Victorian iron bridge, you South Ayrshire. From the house hotel taken over by A historic Victorian house filling up a bag and then using a pulley village with seaside cottages tucked in comparison. Gleneagles enter a more tranquil oak-lined cloakrooms at Andy Murray’s family (who nestled on a cove. The system to lever it up to the ceiling. by the cliffs, where tourists rock up for runs like a well-oiled and world. Its 300 acres are a the discreet main entrance come from Dunblane). Irish coastline is the only At best it got me slightly damp, and selfies in the phone box that starred beautiful machine, yet it is sanctuary for wildlife; the (it’s the first right turn Managed by ICMI Group, it thing on the horizon, apart I emerged still smelling like the Need to know in the 1983 film Local Hero. surprisingly welcoming; famous badgers come to after the village; there’s no was modernised tastefully from fantastic service and men’s shower gel I had hastily and After being buffed by the sea air at 5 you are made to feel the conservatory bar for sign and you access via and reopened in 2014. It food. Winston Churchill mistakenly picked up en route to the Gillian Furmage was a Cullykhan beach — the site of Hell’s of the special from arrival. their milk and peanuts. entryphone), you sense has all the mod cons you’d was once very comfortable farm. It felt like a lot of effort for not guest of Down on the Lum, an ominous collapsed sea cave Activities include shooting, Two two-bedroom and five opulence enveloping you expect, though there is here too. Superb wine much reward. Farm (downonthefarm. that looks ready to drag you to the best riding, fishing, gun-dog one-bedroom suites in a even before you reach the a rather corporate feel (especially French) and As for the outside composting toilet, net) and Visit Scotland underworld — it was time to go to school and off-roading spa outbuilding are more lounges. There is excellent, overall. There is no spa, but whisky list. Understated that was a cross between my first (visitscotland.com), Fraserburgh for fish and chips before (there are even kids’ contemporary, with considerate service and it does have tennis courts, foodie fabulousness. experience at Glastonbury and an which has links to heading home. Country Jeeps). It has a gorgeous private terraces and hot top-notch food. The fishing lochs and 3,000 aerial assault course: try not to breathe farm-stay holidays Back in the city, screen time creeping spa and, in my view, tubs. There is a nine-hole interiors are impeccable, acres of wooded estate Taken from Scotland the through your nose and whatever you across Scotland. back up again, I’m looking for my next house hotels Scotland’s best suite of golf course and a great the rooms beautiful, the to wander. Private chapel, Best by Peter Irvine do . . . Do. Not. Look. Down. The One night in Coastal digital detox escape. No wifi? No Peter Irvine swimming pools. 17m pool and gym. suites enormous. open fires, nice terrace. (£15.99, HarperCollins) carriage comes with its own vintage Carriage costs £75. problem. But next time I’ll be sure to potty — a godsend, I’d wager, if you pack emergency dry shampoo.