travellerfayemondo
December 2014
I want to start with a phrase I have rarely uttered about a holiday: it was bliss! I travelled up with a friend and my dog, and enjoyed the whole week we were there.
Its fair to say my primary aim in booking the cottage was to be in a remote location with no wifi or phone signal, and a woodburning fire, and you certainly get this here!
We travelled via the Corran ferry: be warned, although the directions will tell you the last 25 miles is single track, its more like the last 50 roughly, and if you aren't a confident driver, you may want to switch to someone who is: the roads are d-restricted, and you could get quite a shock driving round a bend with a 50mph camper coming towards you! Fairly quiet in the winter season though.
We were quite glad to have a 4 wheel drive, as the road down to the cottage from the 'main' road is very rickety - if you have an Aygo, don't go! But its only a short drive, and when you get to the bottom, the view makes it worth it. It does pass by farm buildings on the way down, and there are 3 other cottages and a static caravan in spitting distance, but we felt completely isolated, especially at night. I cant see it would be a particular problem in summer months as the cottages are quite small - its not a place for partying! In fact, the time we were there, I counted around 6 properties with lights on in the evening, and that included across the other side of the bay.
Its not really a place for 4 adults to comfortably spend a week, although if you intend on being out all day every day then it would be fine: I elected to take the sofa bed and my friend took the main bed. The sofa bed isn't perfect, but we both managed to get around 10 hours of sleep a night quite easily (again, another reason for us to go!), and it was very cosy and secure. I can only assume the pillows have been replaced: the ones I used were certainly fairly new.
The kitchen was great - an overabundance of crockery and cutlery meant we didn't have to wash up for a few days if we didn't want to (dear owner - although we did!), and the cooking facilities suited us perfectly: oven worked fine so may be an issue that was rectified from a previous poster. More importantly, there was plenty of space in the kitchen, which meant that we could use it even when my large Labrador was padding around!
The woodburner: we actually took some kindling and logs with us, and I wish I had saved my money, as a full bag of coal was provided, along with kindling, wood logs and a full scuttle of coal. Apparently it should last a weekend, but by my reckoning (and considering we had it on every night for at least 6 hours) it will stretch to a week.
The bathroom was a bit of a shame not having a bath, but there's not a lot of space for one. It was clean so the toothbrush comment previously must have been implemented! However the shower isn't overly powerful, and did seem to only have 2 heat settings - hot or cold. But it did what it needed to do.
I will however echo earlier comments re phones: there is a long list of numbers, but with no signal or landline in the cottage, we were bemused about how to use them! The owner was in residence the full time we were there though, and their house is only a short walk away, so it wasn't much of an issue.
The area is gorgeous - I took a short walk down to the beach and it was fairly easy to navigate around, and the views were absolutely stunning. There was also a wealth of information on things to do in the area (handy hint though: if heading to Tobermory from Kilchoan, do not take the car as well if you're only going there for the day. That was a costly mistake on our part!). It is only 40 minutes on the ferry to Tobermory, and has great views on route, including a lighthouse. Worth a visit just to go to the Mish (multi-coloured pub....with wifi....I caved on day 3!).
The ferry shop in Kilchoan was absolutely fantastic - lots of local meats, plenty of essentials, and gluten free oat cakes (being a celiac, I tend to take quite a lot of my own GF stuff, but I could even eat some of the local sausages from here!) Reasonably priced as well, considering it had quite a hold on the local market. However if you go through Corran to get there, I recommend filling up the car before the final 50 mile stretch: petrol is about 20p per litre more expensive here!
Ardnamurchan lighthouse is worth a look, as its a lovely old lighthouse, but was closed when we were there. You can still walk around it even if closed.
Mingray Castle was also closed due to the renovations, but you can see it from the ferry to Tobermory.
All in all it was exactly what we wanted, and for the price we couldn't have really expected much more.
(but make sure to take absolutely everything you would need self catering wise because the Ferry Shop is 4 miles away!).