Struan Cottage

03/09/2026

Thatching progressing at Struan Cottage . Getting ready for the winter.

03/09/2026

Now busy at Struan Cottage Malaclate.
Pics to follow soon

02/09/2026

There are places in the Outer Hebrides that make you pause the moment you arrive. Calanais is one of them. ✨

Standing proudly in the landscape, the Calanais Standing Stones are one of Scotland’s most remarkable prehistoric sites. Now, with the newly redeveloped Calanais Visitor Centre, there is even more to discover.

Explore the 5000 year old archaeology, immerse yourself in the stories, and experience the unique connection between landscape, culture and community that makes this place so special.

Planning a visit? Our latest blog has everything you need to know about the new Visitor Centre and making the most of your time at Calanais. 👇

https://bit.ly/4xgHJSp

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30/08/2026

📆 Save the Date 📆

Next years North Uist Agricultural Show will take place on Thursday 22nd July 2027. Please share.

29/08/2026

20/08/2026

When the police finally came to clear the township of Sollas in the summer of 1849, the men of the village stepped back. The women did not, and that is the reason we know the story at all. 🌾

Sollas sits on the north coast of North Uist, on the machair, that strip of shell sand grassland that is some of the most fertile ground in the Hebrides. The potato blight had come through and roughly seven hundred people there were destitute. In May 1849 their landlord, Lord Macdonald, served notices of removal. The tenants petitioned for a delay. They asked to be allowed to lift the harvest that was already in the ground before they were put off it. The answer was no.

The first attempt at eviction in July collapsed when the landlord's men were driven off with stones. Police were then brought in from Inverness and from Glasgow, and the confrontation that followed on 2 August is remembered as the Battle of Sollas. As the officers advanced, the accounts agree that the men of the township held back and the women went forward, and it was the women who met the police with stones and with their bodies. Some were beaten. The clearance went ahead. More than six hundred people were put out.

Four men were later charged with deforcement, the crime of obstructing officers of the law. They were tried, and they were convicted, and the jury attached a recommendation for mercy so strong that it functioned as a verdict on the landlord rather than on them. The court understood perfectly well what it was looking at.

The people of Sollas were scattered. Many ended up in Canada. The machair is still there, and it is still green, and there is almost nothing standing on it. 🦢

We talk about the Clearances as something that happened to Highlanders. It is worth saying plainly that in a great many townships the last line of resistance was a row of women in shawls with nothing in their hands.

If your line runs back into Uist and stops, this is very often where it stops. 💙

14/08/2026

28/07/2026

Following the success of last year’s 500 Best Pubs in England, we have expanded our horizons for 2026.

Our new guide now includes 75 pubs in Scotland, 50 in Wales and 25 in Northern Ireland. Every one of the 650 listed establishments has been tried and tested by our panel of six experts. Together they represent the very best the country has to offer.⁠

Find out if your local has made the list 👇
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/best-pubs-uk/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_fb_photo