Review: First in: The Sail Loft, Eilean Shona, Scotland

Why book The Sail Loft?

To pursue simple, elemental pleasures in a uniquely beautiful island landscape. With sea eagles and no cars.

Set the scene

Eilean Shona is close enough to the mainland that deer can swim from one to the other. Best leave that to the deer. You will be met at the jetty in the shadow of the splendid ruin of Castle Tioram and skimmed across to Eilean Shona by boat. The journey is short – too short. Regardless of the weather, you will wish it were longer. The views in all directions, of thick forest, shadowy hillside and sheer rocky coastline, are marvellous. Among the loveliest in all of Scotland, I would say. Which is to say, very, very lovely indeed. And the more time you spend on the island – the more you see, the more yomping around and exploring its 2,000-odd acres you do amid the moss and ferns, the ancient oaks and pines – the better it gets.

The backstory

In the mid-19th century, a certain Captain Swinburne purchased Eilean Shona, built a small hunting lodge and planted lots of interesting trees. The lodge was subsequently remodelled and expanded by Scots-baronial whiz-kid Robert Lorimer. Lord Howard de Walden bought the island as a present for his bride-to-be; Lady de Walden became so devoted to it that she sold her collection of Fabergé snuff boxes to pay for repairs to the main house and crofters’ cottages. In 1920 JM Barrie famously came to stay. He was nuts about it at first but got fed up with the rain over the course of a sodden summer. Still, the bad weather may have helped him get a bit of work done on his screenplay for the movie version of Peter Pan.

The island’s current custodian is Vanessa Branson, who bought it in 1995 with her then-husband Robert Devereux. Though less widely known than her brother Richard, she has had an interesting career as, among other things, a gallerist, festival organiser and co-owner of El Fenn, a cultishly admired hotel in Marrakech. She filled the main house on Eilean Shona with art and Moroccan furnishings; then, one by one, did up the outlying crofters’ cottages and abandoned school. The Sail Loft is the latest addition to the inventory. It was, once, a sail loft, a barn-like structure with a pitched roof, and its lower storey, just above the high-tide loch-level, is still full of boaty stuff. It occupies a terrific spot right on the water, just in front of and slightly below the main house, opposite Castle Tioram.

The rooms

The Sail Loft sleeps four. At one end is a cosy twin bedroom, ideal for children. At the other end, overlooking the loch, is a sumptuous master suite, with a football-field-sized £75,000 (yes, you read that correctly) Hästens bed, hand-beaten copper tub and private balcony with knockout views across the water towards the castle. However, because the configuration of the whole space is basically open-plan – only the sauna, the kids’ room and the bathroom are enclosed – the master suite is effectively an extension of the kitchen-dining-living areas. This is fine if you are a loved-up couple travelling alone but not terribly private otherwise.

The whole place looks great. “I’ve tried to strike a balance,” Branson explained. “Not too spiffy, but, you know, a little bit fabulous.” And so it is. There is a curious Maine-meets-the-Maghreb vibe going on – clapboard and Zellige tiles, whitewash and dazzling Moroccan textiles. The soaring A-frame ceiling is riven with Velux windows that let in oceans of daylight; a teardrop-shaped fretwork lampshade hangs rather provocatively over that insanely big, insanely expensive bed.

Food and drink

The Sail Loft, like all the cottages at Eilean Shona, is self-catering, so the menu is up to you. The kitchen is well-equipped. Unleash your inner Escoffier or make do with beans on toast, as you prefer. There is a little Island Shop, open for half an hour on Tuesdays and Sundays, that sells homemade frozen meals such as fish pie, lamb tagine venison casserole, and staple ingredients. Foraging on the island is encouraged; arrive with sufficient provisions, however, and that should not be necessary. Tuesday night is pub night in the so-called Village Hall – a great opportunity to meet guests from the other cottages and locals from the mainland, and, if you like, to retox on biodynamic wine, craft ale or, of course, whisky.

The spa

No spa. But there is a little sauna in The Sail Loft. And a great big loch at your doorstep.

The neighbourhood

The thrillingly wild and beautiful area west of Fort William is known as the Rough Bounds. It is still hard not only to get to but also to get around once you are there, thanks to the fjord-like sea lochs that divide it and make travelling overland in anything like a straight line all but impossible. The Romans ignored it. There was no sealed road till 1966 (one section, the Knoydart Peninsula, still has none). Mains electricity arrived in 1988.

Before that, there were Picts, Celts and early Christian missionaries (it is thought that the great Irish warrior-saint Columba may have visited Eilean Shona). Later, Vikings (the name Eilean Shona probably derives from the Old Norse for “sea island”). Later still, Jacobites (the Rough Bounds were the last place of refuge for doomed Bonnie Prince Charlie). The Highland Clearances devastated the crofting community; if you are wondering where all the locals are hiding, the answer may be that they emigrated to Nova Scotia 250 or so years ago. Nevertheless, for many of those who remain, English is their second language, after Scottish Gaelic.

Eilean Shona is a tidal island, physically (though usually invisibly) attached to the mainland, to the Rough Bounds. Its neighbours to the west and northwest are islands, Rum, Muck, Eigg, and Skye.

The service

Again, up to you. Depends on how well you wish to take care of those you are travelling with. However, you will certainly interact with one or more of the team of four youthful “Island Managers”, who will greet you at the jetty when you arrive, bid you farewell when you leave and make arrangements for any special activities during your stay – fishing, kayaking, canoeing, perhaps a RIB run down to Shoe Bay, the astonishing lagoon that transforms into a white sandy beach at low tide.

For families

Excellent. The Sail Loft sleeps four, with a double bed at one end and a twin room at the other, and the option of setting up additional camp beds if needed – though in reality things would get a little crowded around the dining table if numbers were to grow beyond four. There are board games and children’s books, too, and a ping-pong table in the so-called Village Hall, which is just a few minutes’ walk away. No TVs, however. But the entire island is a natural playground, full of wonders, the sort of place that can help form a child’s view of nature or reform that of a jaded grown-up.

Eco effort

Something Vanessa Branson cares about deeply. “We’re not developing a business on Eilean Shona; we’re developing an environment,” she told me. In certain respects, such as woodland management and habitat protection, she has done extremely well. It is also true that the main house has a biomass generator for hot water, and that deadfall wood is used for heating in the cottages. In other respects, there remains plenty of scope for innovation and improvement. Leafing through one of the old documents on display in the Village Hall, for example, I noticed that, when the island was put up for sale in 1911, an ad in The Times mentioned as a selling point its self-generated electricity (turbines powered by reservoir water and stored in batteries in the deer larder). More than a century later, there is not a water turbine or a solar panel in sight. Doing the right thing, environmentally, on remote islands is always tricky, and expensive. But the long-term benefits are great, as is the privilege of leading by example, if you are in a position to do so. Come on, Eilean!

Accessibility

A significant challenge. Neither the Sail Loft nor anywhere else on the island is equipped for guests with mobility impairments.

Anything left to mention?

Coastal temperate rainforest is among the most threatened and precious habitats on earth. This is one of them. Mosses, ferns, lichens and liverworts love it. You will love it too.