Dry Dock Cottage was the last self-catering accommodation we've used as a base for a walking holiday and from there on I'll work backwards in time... Last August, we spent a week in the Coigach, a peninsula in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland.
There are actually two '
Brochs of Coigach' - ours was a one-bedroom house and the other further along the access track has two bedrooms. By the way, a broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure; I guess we stayed in a rather more modern version!
The cottage is situated in a tiny village called
Polbain, which is about
13 miles north-west of Ullapool as the crow flies, but much further by road! We arrived after driving about 10 miles north on a fast 'A' road followed by about 15 miles on a twisting, single-track road past scenic lochs and truly spectacular mountains.
Despite arriving at the owner's house in Polbain exactly at the correct time, we had to wait about 15 minutes for him to arrive and take us to the cottage. I realise that's not a long time to wait, but it's never happened before and 15 minutes is plenty of time to wonder what we're going to do if no one turns up and we're stranded in a remote village hundreds of miles from home!
But that was soon forgotten and we quickly settled in for a week at this, our fifth Scottish 'hobbit house' in just over three years. Like the others, the Broch is a modern architectural marvel and we loved it. However, in some respects (which I'll get to shortly) the accommodation itself was a little less impressive than those we've had before. We loved it mainly for its stupendous location and the absolutely stunning views!
This is the view towards Loch Broom from the road above the brochs (ours is the nearest and least hard to spot). There are mountains in the distance in all directions; the islands nearby are the Summer Isles; sheep, rabbits and pheasants are in the field in front and deer were often seen nearby - as was a sea eagle. It really was a fantastic setting.
The panoramic windows dominate the living room area, but the furnishings were a little spartan in comparison with similar cottages. A design feature throughout was the use of blue tubular steel supports, but the one in the centre of the view actually blocked it somewhat. While we were being 'introduced' to the broch, I asked if there was a TV. The owner just indicated the view as if to say that a TV would be superfluous, but of course with a couple of hours between sunset and bedtime there
is no view... But no big deal, we used our laptop to watch stuff on iPlayer. We were also a little disappointed by the limited number of books and maps provided. The modern log burner (just visible on the left) was a big plus though.
The bathroom is very large, very modern, very luxurious, and has a sauna (sadly not in the photo). As with a previous cottage (Eagle Bay), the bathroom has two doors - one from the bedroom and one from the small entrance hall. We wondered if the reason is to allow visitors to use the bathroom without going through the bedroom?
The bedroom has an incredibly comfortable bed, but again is sparsely furnished. What isn't lacking though is art - original and (apparently) quite valuable. A strategically placed book on the living room coffee table was about an artist named John Bellany, who was a Scottish painter and (apparently) very important (according to Damien Hirst), and several of the pieces are indeed by him - including the big one above the bed. Unfortunately for us, we hated it all!
I didn't take a decent photo of the kitchen area, but it is modern and well-equipped. However, there's no microwave, which we thought an odd omission for luxury self-catering accommodation.
With at least as many books about art as about the area, and furnishings and artwork that seemed chosen to suit the owner's quite specific taste, we felt that the accommodation was lacking in comparison to all the others we've enjoyed. However, I read through the visitor comments book and almost every entry was gushing in praise - although I didn't see a single mention of the art...
Perhaps my review comes across a little negative so I'll end by saying that we'd happily book a Broch of Coigach cottage again... for the wonderful location and those gorgeous views!
I should also mention that some incredible mountains are within fairly easy reach, including Cul Mor, Cul Beag and the Fiddler (all of which we climbed), as well as Suilven and Stac Polly (which we left 'till next time!).