Inspiration

Get away from it all: our favourite Scottish escapes that are a balm for the soul

Guest Expert

5 min read

When you step into a place that makes your heart and soul soar, it’s a feeling worth holding on to. Scotland’s vast wilderness and intoxicating landscapes are the ultimate destination to escape the rigours of life, and staying at any of these extremely soothing places will help you find a sense of peace and equilibrium. From the awe-inspiring views out of every vast window to the spoiling and hygge interiors, and the kind, generous owners who look after you with utmost care, these are the places to turn to when you require sanctuary, solitude and serenity. Leave feeling deeply refreshed and reinvigorated.

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Scotland

Avernish Lodge

A new-build in local stone with vast windows gazing out at the meeting place of three beautiful lochs. The sitting room is designed to bring the outside in, with six large windows and a special viewing chair. It’s an uncluttered space with clever lighting, underfloor heating and a roaring wood-burner giving warmth and atmosphere at night. Bedrooms are large with fat mattresses, squishy pillows and doors to the outside so you can enjoy morning tea transfixed by big skies and watery vistas. Head out onto the water, swim if you’re brave, paddle board, kayak, or simply look out for wildlife.

Inspector Nicola: Views soar to a magnificent castle, the Isle of Skye is close for island hopping, and the walking is sublime.

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Gille Buidhe’s Broch

The owners have lavished love on this modern take on an Iron Age roundhouse. Expect bright, colourful interiors with light, beamed ceilings, a sociable kitchen, a lovely relaxing bedroom and swish bathrooms with spoiling saunas for long, indulgent sessions. Burrow down into squashy sofas in front of the glowing wood-burner, take in the views through the enormous windows or work your way through a stack of books. Outside, all is quiet on the Coigach Peninsula, the only sounds the birds, the wind and the waves. Amble along the hills and beaches – there’s a guide in the broch – swim in sea and loch, or hire a kayak and pack a picnic to spend fine days exploring hidden beaches.

Owners Reiner & Sheileagh: The greatest thing is perhaps just to do nothing. To look out through the huge panorama window and watch the ever-changing sky.

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Scarista House

All you need to know is this: Harris is one of the most beautiful places in the world. You’re a one and a half hour drive from the airport – or much else really. There’s almost no phone signal and no televisions in the house. Which leaves you with wonderful walks along deserted white sand beaches, picnics and sea swimming in summer but also kayaking and surfing, hiring bikes or even visiting the Harris Tweed Company. But mostly this is about staring out of the window all cosy in front of the peat fire, reading books, eating exceptional food, and feeling very relaxed. Patricia and Tim, your hosts, are the kindest people.

Guest Clare: A perfect oasis of welcoming, informal but delightfully organised comfort, and wonderful locally sourced food.

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Tigharry Schoolhouse

This house is built for entertaining. A huge living room and a long wooden table for convivial meals, a screen and a hidden projector connected to a smorgasbord of online streaming. There’s also a library of over a thousand books, two wood-burning stoves and unlimited logs, so if the weather is hurling itself at the windows then you can stay put happily. There’s much fun to be had without straying far. Wild swimming or paddle boarding from your own stretch of white sand, hiking to St Kilda’s Viewing Point, fishing in the loch opposite from a rowboat. You’ll find a drinks shelf with a choice of malts, so pour yourself a wee dram, get comfy on the west-facing patio and watch a myriad of stars appear one by one.

Owner Pierson: Take a guided walk from RSPB Balranald to learn all about the island’s avian life and how best to spot the elusive and endangered corncrake.

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An Airigh

There’s much to do and see from your award-winning architect-designed retreat on the hill – stride over stunning hills, cycle your socks off, fish from the shore. Inside is equally invigorating: floor to ceiling windows for long and wide views, a crisply dressed bed, super shower room, a sofa facing the sea and a sleek kitchen on the side. And there’s a widescreen TV with Sky, WiFi, and a smart music system so even if it’s raining you’ll feel happy here. Wander through a meadow sprinkled with bluebells, wild garlic and rare orchids to the superb coral beach, soak up stunning views, eat at the very good Three Chimneys restaurant.

Guest Patricia: An Airigh is set beautifully overlooking Loch Dunvegan – the views are spectacular. There is everything you could wish for in terms of creature comforts.

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Carmen McCormack

Guest Expert

Carmen is a freelance writer specialising in travel. She once lived in a bus in north Wales, skipped off to study in Barcelona, and now calls Bristol home. When she’s not tapping away on her laptop, she can be found reading (a lot), lake swimming (a little), and pottering on the allotment with husband and two kiddos. She’s currently dreaming about cold cerveza and torta in Mexico.

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