Castle on the edge of the sea

Vivien Devlin visits Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, a beautifully preserved baronial castle available for rent

According to mythology, on the sixth day of creation God scattered the final precious fragments at random, landing in the open sea off the Scottish coastline shaped into a curving necklace of sparkling jewels.

The archipelago of the Western Isles numbers around 200 islands, islets and tiny skerries, the majority uninhabited, stretching in a long chain for 130 miles from the northern tip at the Butt of Lewis to Barra Head in the south. They are also known as the Outer Hebrides from the Viking name, Havbrodoy, ‘islands on the edge of the sea.' This is truly another world governed by ancient history, language and culture. Here is the Land of the Gael where Gaelic is widely spoken as well as English.

Remote and isolated as it may seem, the Western Isles are easily accessible by plane and ferry. After a short British Airways flight from Edinburgh to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, we drove south across heather moorland, wide glens, curving around long sealochs and wild, windy hilltop roads. The vast expanse of the raw, natural landscape is simply breathtaking. Heading west on the winding single track, we arrive at our destination, Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, Isle of Harris.

Amhuinnsuidhe (pronounced Avensuey) is Gaelic for ‘sitting by the river'; the castle overlooks a fast flowing river which cascades over rocky waterfalls down to the sea. This stunning and beautifully preserved baronial castle, within a 55,000 acre estate, is available for residential sporting and private house...

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• By : Vivien Devlin
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 28
• Page : 44
• Words : 1,158