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Beauly, winner of “Britain in Bloom” is 4 miles away, a charming village, with a good range of shops,
gift shops, restaurants, hotels, pubs, a Visitor
Centre with a museum and Craft Centre, and the very
popular shop and restaurant “House of
Beauly”, with a good selection of
Scottish Arts &
Crafts. The small co-op
supermarket keeps open every day until 10 pm and we
have a butcher, baker , greengrocer and delicatessan/coffee
shop and just up the road is a very popular farm
shop Robertsons
Larder at Tomich. At the heart of Beauly lies the unique village square with the 13th Century Priory at the head. Throughout the summer you
can see the Pipe Band displays held against a wonderful floral backdrop.
Just below us is the dramatic Aigas gorge and the salmon lift which is open to the public. At the same time you can visit the
Kilmorack Art Gallery with its impressive
exhibition of Scottish artists or visit the
Beauly
Gallery and Kirk Coffee shop on the way to Beauly, with
Scottish arts and crafts and beautiful prints
of the Highlands.
The Millennium city of Inverness, the Capital of the Highlands, with excellent communications by road, rail or air, lies 15 miles to the east, a 20 minute drive and
has plenty to offer for your enjoyment.
Loch Ness is only 20 minutes away via a scenic drive through Glen Convinth, which takes you into Drumnadrochit to do some monster studying at the museums, or to
visit the spectacular setting of Urquhart Castle.
Visit the beautiful local glens of Strathfarrar,
Cannich and Affric.
Notes for those interested in local history and archaeology – Beauly and Strathglass.
This area has had settlements for 7000 years. There is a series of Duns ( Hill-Forts) up on the hill behind the lodges. They are probably built 2500 years ago and there
are also plenty of other remains such as stone circles, stone sites etc. There is even an old abandoned settlement, Urchany, which you will find at the end of a track about
3 kms west of the lodges. Later the Vikings, Åke’s blond, blue-eyed ancestors arrived and the river Beauly became the border between the Norse and the Celts.
Many local place-names are identical to the area near Gothenburg where Åke comes from.
It is interesting to note that just 100 years ago 90% of the population was gaelic speaking in this area.
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