5
Don Bell 86 months ago
We were two retired Canadian couples motoring through the Highlands as part of a three-week UK adventure. We thoroughly enjoyed our four-night stay in Tigh Mo Mhiann. The cottage was clean, cosy and well equipped. It was perfectly located to suit our needs. We visited the Glenfiddich Distillery and Culloden Battlefield Visitors Centre on our way there from Aberdeen, and used our days in the area to visit Glencoe, the Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness, and "the Jacobite" (a.k.a. Hogwarts) steam train from Fort William to Mallaig and back.
Our days were busy, so we were very happy to come back and unwind in truly Canadian fashion in the cheery kitchen of this beautifully repurposed former blacksmith's cottage. There was a steaming hot shower or bath tub to ease tired hikers, and comfortable beds on the second floor when sleep claimed us. We improvised a bit. The top bunk was a bit of a climb, so we laid that mattress down on the floor and everyone slept soundly.
Although we weren't in the cottage long enough to use them, the cottage had TV, stereo, a comfortable sitting room, plenty of power points for all our electronics, fast Wi-Fi, outdoor furniture and a very well equipped kitchen. There was a pub about 200 yards away, but sadly we didn't get time to visit it. Although the cottage had a washing machine, it did not have a drier, and we had a large pile of laundry. We discovered a wonderful laundrette in Caol on the outskirts of Fort William that worked through that pile very quickly while we enjoyed a coffee and scone in the nearby ability charity cafe.
The only note of caution we would offer about the cottage, for those who have small children or mobility limitations, is that the stairs to the upper level are very steep, and the bathroom is on the ground floor. We found it best to go up and down FACING the stairs, like you would a ladder. This is not in any way a criticism - we found this to be part of the cottage charm and a reminder of how our ancestors lived.
Finally, a special word of thank to the owners, who gave me a lot of excellent advice about traveling in Scotland, and about how to choose cottages and apartments for other parts of our journey. It was a pleasure to be in touch with them, and our whole trip was much better because of their advice. I would be very happy to return to Tigh Mo Mhiann again some day, and will certainly recommend it to my friends.