Skeabost Wood Cottage

The cottage

An architect's house, not a chocolate box

Designed by a local architect and built to sit lightly in its setting, the house is warm, quiet and properly equipped — the sort of place you settle into rather than merely stay in.

It stands on its own in three acres of ground, larch-clad under a slate roof, looking out across croft land towards the hills. There are no neighbours in view, but Portree is five miles up the road when you want a restaurant, a supermarket, or the harbour.

Inside it opens right up. The kitchen runs into the dining table and on into the sitting room, with full-height windows down one side and oak floors throughout. There's a wood-burning stove for the darker months and a level, ramped approach from the parking to the door.

Upstairs, under the eaves, two bedrooms sleep four — an oak four-poster in one, brass twin beds in the other — sharing a bathroom with a bath and shower. Electric blankets, soundproofed glass, and enough heat to make February as comfortable as July.

The River Snizort, one of Skye's finest salmon rivers, runs below. St Columba's Isle — an ancient burial ground reached by footbridge — is a five-minute walk. The Old Man of Storr, the Quiraing, Dunvegan and the Fairy Pools are all comfortable day trips.