Five great reasons to choose Dornie Croft cottages

30/07/2023
We’ve been offering self-catering accommodation to visitors for over 15 months now, and we thought you would be interested in why people love their holiday in Dornie.  Here’s a list of the top 5 so far:


 

1. Far from the Madding Crowd (but just off the main road)

Lots of our guests have commented on the perfect location of the cottages.  They’re in a small village with Dornie Hotel and the Clachan Bar within a few minutes walk so easy to go out for a meal, a drink or live music sessions and walk home.

The world-famous Eilean Donan Castle is 10-minute walk through the village so you don’t need to bother with parking or traffic to get there.  It’s a lovely evening stroll as well so you can enjoy the views in peace and quiet.

Day trips to Skye provide an opportunity to visit all the ‘must sees’ and even better, the off-the-beaten track locations.  From Dornie, you can go over the bridge to Skye or choose the historic route over the sea with the original Skye ferry.  With lots of local knowledge, we can suggest itineraries to suit you.

If you like ‘interesting’ roads, you’ll be close to the winding, single track road to Applecross and the amazing Applecross Inn, the Bealach na Bà (more about Gaelic names in another post!) is a challenging drive and not for the faint-hearted.

 

2. The wildlife

Or, just stay at home and watch the sea, sky and wildlife immediately on your doorstep!  With otters, sea eagles, herons, curlew, oystercatchers, geese and ducks, it’s a paradise for anyone interested in the environment.  We provide binoculars and guides to wildlife plus if you want, we can tell you about what we’ve spotted and even text you sea-eagle sightings.

 

3. The cottages have everything…

Well that’s not literally true.  However, we get the sense that some of our visitors have a competition to see if they can find something that we haven’t included and let us know offline if they think they’ve succeeded.  Sone of the words that keep appearing in reviews – beautiful, spacious, well-equipped, spotlessly clean, super comfy, peaceful.

Our style is unfussy, uncluttered and distinctively Scottish and we aim to provide you with a holiday that requires no thinking, no stress and easy, relaxing space to unwind.

 

4. The scenery and the hills

Regardless of the weather – and we’re on the west coast of Scotland so it can be very varied – everyone has raved about the views.  Sitting almost in the sea, the view and the light changes constantly.  We designed the cottages to make the most of their location, with a spacious seating area looking onto the sea loch so that you can enjoy your morning coffee or evening drink and take it all in.

Many of our guests are keen walkers and Dornie is a fantastic location if you want to be outdoors with the Five Sisters of Kintail, the South Cluanie Ridge, the Skye Cuillin, the Strathcarron Munros, many Corbetts and special hills like Dun Caan on Raasay all within easy distance.  We recommend the website WalkHighlands for detailed information.  Please remember though that weather can change very quickly and for many of these routes, map reading skills are essential.

5 Sisters

5. Our commitment to sustainability

We try to minimise our impact in different ways and our guests love what we do.  That ranges from the welcome pack which includes eggs from our own hens, a loaf from the fantastic Manuela’s Wee Bakery, and some iconic Scottish biscuits from Tunnocks or the flowers from our garden which change with the season.  

The cottages are designed to be super-insulated and we use a air source heat pump, for heating and hot water, so no fossil fuels required plus you can charge your EV overnight.  We’re members of the Green Tourism scheme and are currently being graded for an award.

Duncan also recycled materials in building the cottages, with old brick from a walled garden featured in the fireplaces and an old bridge beam turned into a beautiful mantelpiece.  We’ve also upcycled some lemonade crates rescued from a skip, pottery found on the shore plus stoneware jars and old milk bottles.  They all contribute to the unique sense of place you’ll find at Dornie Croft.

Our guests also like that we’ve used Gaelic in our names for the cottages as part of our efforts to increase sustainability.  An Dòbhran means the otter and An Iolaire the eagle – two iconic symbols of our heritage and environment.