We genuinely treat our guests as though they were old friends and do everything we can to make their stay with us special. Whether it’s making food for those with special diets, planning trips and outings – or even rescuing guests stranded during (thankfully rare!) blizzard conditions – we enjoy making you feel like one of the family.
We have been overwhelmed by our guests’ response to this unique, personal service. Here is just a taster...
"Hands down the best B+B experience for us so far. Great place, food, company and conversations! Thanks!"
Jan, Gerlinde, Charlotte, Celine and Elise, Belgium
"Thank you for all the first-hand knowledge of the hikes, the attentive care, excellent conversation, cosy amenities, delicious meals and overall flexibility and warmth. You made our getaway one to treasure. Thank you for making Hilary’s birthday so nice - my mother would approve of the cake!"
Richard and Hilary, Philadelphia
"It is not often that a website understates the attractions it has to offer. The welcome, the room, the food – but above all the charm of our hosts – made our visit very special."
Ken and Eleanor, Perth
"Probably the best B+B in the UK. Thanks for the warm welcome."
Estelle, Jerome and Melissa, France
"The highlight of our trip to the Highlands!!! Made to feel so at home - even with our high-maintanence dog!
Steve and Julie, Kilmarnock
"We have never stayed anywhere so welcoming – we feel like we have known you for ages! Your home is breathtaking, as lovely on the inside as the views are outside. We lapped up the delicious food, generous amounts of wine and entertaining conversations - plus your taste in music is impeccable. When we grow up we want to be like you."
David and Sam, London
"In Italy we say “e’ la ciliegina sulla torta” - our evening at The Peatcutter’s Croft has been the ‘cherry on the cake” of our holiday in the Highlands! Thanks for everything!
Alice and Allesandro, Italy
"I attribute the gold award for your homemade cheesecake!"
Didier, France
"Thank you for making our stay so special! It’s our baby Maisie’s first holiday (at 11 weeks old) and we loved playing in front of the peat burning stove - so cosy!! Can’t wait to come back!"
Jamet, Malky and Maisie, Dunblane
"One of the loveliest places we have ever been! A great family! Thank you very much!"
Katarina and Gino, Germany/Italy
"Great location, great food and the most comfortable bed in the world. Could it get any better?"
Debra and Simon, York
"The first B+B where we can take a family breakfast all together. It was very interesting to talk with you. Lovely room, fantastic place lost in the mountains and great meals."
Lily, Gerard and Justine, France
"We’ve stayed in loads of B+Bs and this is the top of the list - we want to adopt the whole family!"
Lou and Dylan, London
We've definitely found Badrallach, a crofting township on Scotland's north-west coast. A painted sign on a five-bar gate says Peatcutter's Croft, and there's roadside parking opposite. A sloping garden stretches away to sodden fields and the choppy waters of Little Loch Broom. Dodging raindrops and sidestepping sociable hens, we bash on the croft door.
It's a big welcoming committee of small inhabitants. Those who can talk introduce themselves, but since I have no idea how to spell their names, I ask the eldest of three children at the doorway to write them in my notebook. He's 10, and his name sounds like Ocean, but it's Oisean. "It means 'little deer,'" he explains. Uma is eight, there is toddler Gaelan, and a sheepdog (jumping for joy at our arrival and continually escaping banishment to the hall) called Skye. The cats, Fang and Oscarito, peer at us through a window.
Then Dad appears. Seori (pronounced "Shorry") grabs our bags and leads us down a narrow hallway. We're in the byre, added later to the 120-year-old croft and now housing up to four guests in an almost self-contained unit.
Ooh, it's a G-plan cave, a cool blend of rough whitewashed stone and glass. Beside a Norwegian Jotul woodburner are baskets of peat and logs. A Vitra chair by Mario Bellini is covered by a sheepskin throw and sits invitingly beside shelves bearing Scottish titles.
Above the double futon bed is a bed platform, the steps a series of giant holes cut into a thick wooden screen. My good deed is volunteering to sleep aloft (thus ensuring entertainment later, when the only way I can ascend without the "steps" cutting into my feet is by donning wedge heels).
"It's a galley bathroom," calls a disembodied voice from somewhere down the hall. "And the towels are Fenn Wright Manson," says my friend Daniela, returning to our room.
Back in the kitchen, we chat and play Corgi car crashes around mugs of tea and coconut macaroons - specially made for my gluten-free friend.
Architect and musician Seori and his wife Pauline, a former editor, have returned to Scotland from south London and are committed to a more sustainable life here. Water comes from a burn, fruit and vegetables are homegrown and they cut their own peat. In summer there is mackerel from the loch, and "brilliant mussel beds - we go about once a month," says Seori.
"Our Gloucester old spot pigs are all in the freezer now," says Pauline, back from work and now making dinner.
"What's the population of Badrallach?" I ask between mouthfuls of soup (pea, mint and their own ham). "There are 12 residents," explains Pauline "and you're looking at five of them." Last winter some guests were snowed in for three nights, she tells us. Lucky them, we think, tackling quinoa tabbouleh (no wheat, clever) and a roasted vegetable dish called turlu turlu from the Moro Cookbook, then mini pavlovas with rhubarb fool. Warmed by an Aga and sitting amid all this human (and occasionally canine) life heightens our sense of the enveloping nothingness outside.
At breakfast there is an ever changing view through a tiny kitchen window. Songbirds flutter at fronds of spring foliage, fat chickens suddenly hop into frame on the sill, replaced moments later by Fang and Oscarito. There is plenty of rain, but no snow, and the wilderness is waiting.
Best for: Sociable types into walking.
Cost: B&B, £30pp, children half-price. Dinner, £25 per head, BYO wine. Pick-ups from Garve railway station or Inverness. Picnics and day trips arranged - enquire about charges. For more information on Scotland: 0845 22 55 121, visitscotland.com/perfectday.
sally.shalam@guardian.co.uk
“Ooh, it's a G-plan cave, a cool blend of rough whitewashed stone and glass. Beside a Norwegian Jotul woodburner are baskets of peat and logs. A Vitra chair by Mario Bellini is covered by a sheepskin throw and sits invitingly beside shelves bearing Scottish titles.”
Sally Shalam, The Guardian, May 2009. To read the full review, visit The Guardian website.
"My favourite place is Badrallach, a hamlet on the northwest coast of Scotland, and a place where - come drizzle, sunshine or fog - I spent every summer holiday during my childhood. It's also, mystifyingly, deserted. Even in August, the mountainous soft-purple coast is one of the most beautiful and unpopulated places I've ever visited ..."
Travel writer Edward Marriott, The Observer's 20 Best-Kept Travel Secrets, October 2007
