Bothan Jura Retreat

12/06/2026

If you're coming to stay with us this summer, this is worth a read.

Port Ellen is closed until 2029. All Islay traffic now goes via Port Askaig. Essential travel guide for visitors heading to Jura via Port Askaig in 2026.

03/05/2026

Our mobile sauna will be at Big Corran on Monday, Wednesday, Friday afternoons and Sunday in the morning. Currently at Big Corran still as handbrake needs some work! We will notify you if it moves to a different location.

This coming week sauna days are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at Big Corran.

For session times please book jurasauna.co.uk

Thanks to everyone who is coming down and spreading the word!

The sauna is currently at Big Corran still as handbrake needs some work! We will notify you if it moves to a different location next week. We like to keep it rotating.

29/04/2026

If ever there was a more perfect day on Jura.

No wind. No midgies. No people. Glass-calm water. Blue sky. Just us, a seal, loads of birds and a very zen dog!

Early morning paddling season has begun.

BothanJuraRetreat

25/04/2026

I love them but they are starting to nibble everything. Leave the gate and they’re in!!! But they are so so gorgeous! I love spring in Knockrome, free roaming sheep and lambs, cuckoo, primroses, tadpoles and now sunshine! This is exactly the memory I hold onto to get me through February and storms and relentless wind. Today was a day for the memory bank!

01/04/2026

THIS WEEKEND - Horsebox sauna launching in the village

https://www.bothanjuraretreat.co.uk/wildsauna

We're bringing the wood-fired horsebox sauna to the village this weekend with 50% off all sessions - come give it a go!

Thanks to Jura Community Business and Konrad for letting us set up by the gallery. We have some great coastal locations lined up, but we're starting here.

Friday 2-6pm
Saturday 4-7pm

Sessions £15, use code EASTER for 50% off (£7.50)

Memberships available for regular users. Private sessions and event hire also available.

Book: https://www.bothanjuraretreat.co.uk/wildsauna

Feedback welcome - this is very much a trial run!

15/03/2026

🎭 JamDram New Stage Celebration! 🎭

Come to Jura for the night and watch the opening performances on the new stage you helped fund!

Bothan Jura Retreat is offering 6 theatre packages:

WHAT'S INCLUDED:

Return ferry + driver
One night's accommodation (50% off!) for 2 people
Theatre tickets for 2

FRIDAY 27TH MARCH:
❌ Mrs Leonard's Cottage BOOKED
✅ Black Hut £130 AVAILABLE
✅ The Rusty Hut £130 AVAILABLE

SATURDAY 28TH MARCH:
❌Mrs Leonard's Cottage £155 BOOKED
✅ Black Hut £130 AVAILABLE
❌The Rusty Hut £130 BOOKED

Check in 2pm, check out 11am

The Antlers and The Jura Hotel are serving food - book ahead!

First come, first served - comment or message to book!

12/03/2026

6-7pm sauna slot has become available tonight if anyone can take it. Fills a one hour gap.

08/03/2026

A lot of ‘research’ (yum)went into this years Jura Bake Off entry!!! A special shout out to for enabling the nonsense and lending me the props! (tray and plate to be returned next journey I promise!) ‘Calmac n Cheese’ is a legendary dish on the ferries, available for one day only in cake form! Well done everyone who entered, £400 raised for Jura charities! For more photos check out .scot page IsleOfJura FerryFood CakesOfInstagram ScottishBaking BakeOff2026 CalMacMacAndCheese

04/03/2026

Dark skies. No light pollution. And a skyline you won't see anywhere else!

This is the view from Bothan Jura Retreat - the Paps of Jura silhouetted against the night sky. You can't get this exact perspective anywhere else on the island.

Just us, this mountain skyline, and the universe above.

We have virtually zero light pollution. On clear nights, the sky transforms into something extraordinary.

What you'll see:

- Thousands of stars visible to the naked eye
- The Milky Way stretching across the sky
Meteor showers (when they're happening)
- Aurora Borealis / Northern Lights (especially October-November)
- Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, and deep sky objects through our telescope

Our Dobsonian 10" telescope:

We provide guests with a proper telescope and different lenses so you can explore the night sky. No experience needed - we'll show you how to use it.
Some of our guests have never seen the Milky Way before. Imagine stepping outside your cottage, seeing this silhouette, and looking up to THAT sky for the first time.

Switch off. Look up. Remember how small we are.

Book your dark sky escape: www.bothanjuraretreat.co.uk

19/02/2026

We have a winner! And a stage! And storage for the stage! And some new guests coming to visit Jura and stay at Bothan Jura Retreat!!! What a campaign, what support! Thank you to everyone who pledged and donated. This has been a truly wonderful experience. Amazing news. Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Crowdfunder, donated, liked, shared and got behind this project. We have been completely blown away by your support. WE DID IT!

Between £6,412 in pledges (after fees) and £3,370 in donations, over the draw period, we raised a total of £9,782 - enough to buy the stage AND the storage we needed. Thank you to Jura Distillery for a very generous £2,000 donation which got us over the line! But seriously without the hundreds of pledges we received, we wouldn't have been able to do this.

A truly brilliant effort by everyone involved. We hope that if you're on Jura or Islay in the coming years, you'll get to enjoy a gig, a dance, a concert - or maybe even a JamDram production - on our new stage! 🎭

Please see our Prize Draw Video on our page to see us picking our winner at our rehearsal last night.

🎉 THE WINNER IS... KATHLEEN THOMSON! 🎉

Congratulations Kathleen! You - or someone you choose to gift it to - are coming to Jura for 5 nights at Bothan Jura Retreat! 🏡

If you'd like to make it extra special, JamDram's next production is on 27th-28th March - what better way to see the new stage in action for the first time!

Thank you. From all of us. This is what community looks like. 💚🎭