Small is beautiful
Enterprising Scots are creating incredible holiday lettings on tiny plots, or repurposing trains, planes and automobiles to produce quirky boltholes that are bonny but bijou.
With holidaymakers willing to pay a premium for novelty, there has been a rush to provide small, idiosyncratic boltholes that aren’t just somewhere to stay, but are somewhere to boast about having stayed.
Over the years the Scottish Field team has stayed in small spaces ranging from yurts, roulottes and fishing boats to tree houses, bothies and lighthouses, yet there seems to be no end to the imagination of Scottish hosts, particularly when it comes to the motto that the best things come in small packages.
So, with the end of lockdown hopefully in sight but a ban on foreign travel meaning staycations are de rigueur, the Scottish Field team has put its collective heads together and come up with some tiny temples to Scottish hospitality. Here are eight jaw-dropping holiday lets that don’t allow a lack of space get in the way of a luxury experience.
THE HOBBIT HIDEAWAY Aberlour, Speyside
If we are going to speculate on all things tiny, then a hobbit’s abode is a good place to start. Who knew that Middle Earth was alive, well and thriving in Scotland? Having already successfully built her own strawbale home, it was a no brainer for Kim Fraser to follow a similar journey for her holiday home.
Kim wanted an eco-project that followed a completely natural path and a circular one. The shape of the property made the build a complex one as it meant that everything was bespoke from the quirky bunk beds to the handcrafted curved kitchen, but this shape fulfilled one of Kim’s main ambitions.
‘I wanted to design a space that would really hold people in a giant hug,’ she says. ‘I love living a more simple, low impact life, and at the Hobbit Hideaway we can offer that experience to guests as well. It gets people back to basics so they can connect more simply or even effortlessly with each other and with nature. I think people are looking for ways to slow down and the Hobbit Hideaway helps them do that.’
www.hobbithideaway.co.uk
HELICOPTER GLAMPING Thornhill, Stirlingshire
As impulse buys go, Martyn and Louise Steedman’s decision to spend £7,000 on snapping up a decommissioned Sea King helicopter in an online MOD auction in March 2016 is right up there with the craziest. Yet the owners of a Wigwam hospitality business knew what they were doing and have created one of the country’s quirkiest – if smallest – holiday destinations.
After the helicopter was transported 320 miles on a low loader, it was restored. Original rotor blades and tail rotors were sourced from Ebay, the exterior repainted and the original lighting restored so she looks as if she’s ready for take-off.
Inside, the curved, wood-panelled walls of the interior now look like the upturned hull of a boat. It can sleep a family of five, and includes a double and a triple bed as well as single bed in the tail, plus a shower room and minikitchen. The cockpit houses the original dashboard, roof panel switches and foot pedals and also provides spectacular panoramic views over the Carse of Stirling.
www.helicopterglamping.com
Original lighting was restored so she looks as if she’s ready for take-off
THE PILOT HOUSE Lochaline, Argyll
Another high flyer is The Pilot House, which was designed by architect Roderick James and his wife Amanda Markham, who together run Out of the Blue, a lifestyle design and manufacturing consultancy specialising in compact, innovative, small living spaces in spectacular locations.
A few years ago, when the couple built their conic airship at Lochaline, they had no idea it would prove quite so popular with friends, family and guests. Such was the response that they decided to build another funky, idiosyncratic building.
‘We wanted to create another property with a powerful identity,’ Roderick explains, ‘One that was easy to slip into and live in for two people and to develop again the curved elliptical shapes which we have discovered are wonderful to be in, and very popular with our guests.’
The result was The Pilot House. An incredibly liveable but compact property, the first floor living space and galley has a dramatic view out past Ardnamurchan Point to the Atlantic Ocean. Downstairs houses a shower room/WC, a small study and double bedroom and the balcony adds an extra dimension with a half flight staircase to the outside log-store and thence to the garden.
www.coolstays.com
BAGEND AND THE BURROW Dunblane
The Keir family at Craighead Howfs have taken hobbit living to another level. This incredibly talented family have, over the last few years, been steadily building a portfolio of quirky holiday accommodation. The creation of two holiday lets, Bagend and The Burrow, took 16 months, with the two traditional stone-built Scottish cottages built into the hillside with grass roofs, and filled with all the comforts a hobbit would expect.
Handcrafted wooden sinks, beds, dining tables and chairs adorn the interior. Heating is via a wood burner and bathing facilities come courtesy of a roll top bath and a shower. Owner Ian Keir’s vision is that when a guest visits, ‘they’ll feel as if they’re entering a little house that belonged to a hobbit. You can borrow it, but when you leave, the little hobbit is going to come back…’
www.craigheadhowf.co.uk
THE BUS STOP Gifford, East Lothian
At The Bus Stop, the redesign was about maximising living space and storage, as owner Sandy Stewart explains.
‘It was a process of what do we have to have and what could we do without? We couldn’t fit in an oven in Bus One so there’s a hob, freezer and microwave inside and a gas barbecue undercover on the deck. We’ve made sure we used every bit of available space. There are drawers underneath the bunk beds and each of the steps leading to the top bunk is storage as well.’
And as you would expect in such a unique space, the loo most definitely has a view. ‘The WC is in the exact location of the old driver’s seat. We tried hard to keep the steering wheel, but we just couldn’t get it to fit but we have left the original windows.
‘If you want to pretend you’re driving the bus you only have to pull the curtain back!’
www.thebusstop.scot
THE SAWMILL Near Banchory, Deeside
When Charlie and Caroline Gladstone, the owners of Glen Dye estate on the glorious Cairn O’ Mount road, refurbished their 1955 Airstream Safari caravan, they took a different approach on how to offer their guests a rustic experience with all the necessary conveniences.
Rather than try and fit a WC into the Airstream they used the entire vehicle to create a bedroom in the wilderness and then gave guests access to an outdoor wood-fired hot tub and an outdoor shower created in the bones of the abandoned sawmill.
A kitchen, dining room and sitting room is located in The Seed Store, a wonderful wooden building originally created in the late 1800s as a kitchen, refuge and seed store for the estate foresters and which has now been completely updated. As the Gladstones are keen to stress when you visit: ‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.’
www.glendyecabinsandcottages.com
EBB AND FLOW Uig, Isle of Lewis
At this remarkably bijou little cabin on Carnish Beach, guests may face a similar dilemma about leaving. Seen from the hilltop it looks like the Atlantic could quite easily take these cabins out to sea and gently bring them back again. These cabins take beachside living to an entirely new level and proximity. You don’t even have to leave your bed to take in the view and why would you when you’re looking over the gorgeous sands of Uig Bay?
Designed to look like a break in a wave, the concept is bold and practical. The sloping roof provides shelter during inclement weather and the main fixtures and fittings have been accommodated along the rear of the property to allow generous living spaces that of course, maximise the fabulous surrounding vista.
Furniture has been kept sleek and unfussy, letting the curves of the buildings make their own design statements. However, like all the properties we have mentioned, this is no style over substance. It is apparent that all small needs for it to be beautiful is imagination, creativity and ambition.
www.carnishcabins.co.uk
THE TREE HOWF Dunblane
If subterranean living doesn’t appeal, then why not try out life in the tree tops? Built around an ancient Ash tree, The Tree Howf has amazing 360-degree views over the Ochil hills and beyond and is totally self-sufficient.
There are internal cooking facilities with a wood burning stove/oven, a shower, handmade rustic, king-size bed while downstairs there is composting toilet. A fire pit and BBQ are also available accessed by another staircase to a grassy area with more fabulous views and complete privacy.
www.craigheadhowf.co.uk