Cathair Dhubh

Five cottages on eighty acres above Achmelvich Bay

Cathair Dhubh is an estate rather than a terrace of holiday lets: five cottages spread across eighty acres of coastal ground on the road between Lochinver and Clachtoll, each sited so the windows face the Atlantic and the mountains. Suilven, Canisp and Quinag are all in view, which in Assynt means the landscape does the work.

Four of the cottages are two-bedroom and sleep four. Heather Cottage is the exception, with three bedrooms for six and the highest position on the estate. All five are dog friendly, all have open-plan living, a proper kitchen and patio doors onto outdoor seating, and all have fast wifi, which on this coast is not a given.

Three beaches are walkable. Achmelvich, with the white sand and the water that photographs as though it is somewhere else entirely, is the famous one. Vestey's is quieter. Altan Abradhan is a cove you reach from the estate itself, and most days you will have it.

Good to know

Features

Location

The five cottages

All five have an open-plan living area, a fully equipped kitchen, wifi, outdoor seating and patio doors. Heather is the one to book if you are six, or if the view matters more than anything else.

Where it puts you

Assynt is the reason people come this way, and this is the middle of it. Achmelvich Beach is a walk; Lochinver, with the pie shop, the harbour and the road out to Inverpolly, is four miles. Stac Pollaidh, the short sharp hill that most photographs of the North West Highlands turn out to be, is about half an hour south, and it is the best two hours of walking on this coast for the effort involved.

Suilven itself is a full day and a serious one. The whole area sits inside the North West Highland Geopark, and this stretch of the NC500 is where most people wish they had booked longer.