Clan Donald Skye Visitor Centre

Clan Donald Skye is a 20,000-acre highland estate on the Sleat peninsula in south Skye. Once part of the traditional lands of Clan Donald, the Estate was purchased by the Clan Donald Lands Trust in 1971. The Trust was established to promote an understanding of the history and traditions of Clan Donald and the Lordship of the Isles. As custodians of this wonderful estate, the Trust has worked tirelessly to save and develop this important resource for the benefit of visitors to Skye and, importantly, for the local community.

The Estate offers some stunning walks for all levels of fitness, with views eastwards across the Sound of Sleat to Knoydart, or on the west of the peninsula across to the Cuillin mountain range. It is home to iconic wildlife species including red deer, golden eagles and sea eagles.

The Estate’s principal focal points are the restored historic gardens, and the beautiful walking trails threading through the 40 acres of woodland around Armadale Castle. Part of the Castle has been restored and the striking ruined remains sensitively re-designed, to create an attractive landscape within the gardens.

The fully accredited Museum of the Isles, opened within the gardens in 2002, incorporates the Library and Study Centre. The Trust has also built holiday accommodation and established a lively and vibrant Visitor Centre that appeals to all age groups. Disabled facilities are available at the Centre.

Self catering Glencoe

Dunvegan Castle

Among all the historic houses of Scotland there is none that for sheer manifold fascination overtops Dunvegan Castle. It is at once the greatest and most renowned among Hebridean strongholds, and the only one which has been continuously owned and, with the exception of the eighty years after the Potato Famine of the last century, occupied by the same family, during a period now reaching back over a span of very nearly 8 centuries. Architecturally it is a structure of high importance, containing work of at least ten building periods. Its history, and that of the famous Clan whose Chiefs have ruled from their castled Rock during all these many generations, is rich with drama and packed with colourful interest.

Within Dunvegan's stately halls are priceless heirlooms, some of which have descended in the hands of the Chiefs of MacLeod since medieval times. The picturesque quality of the building itself is matched by its glorious surroundings. "Ane starke strengthe biggit upon ane craig", so it is described by a writer of 1549; and so it still remains. Rising sheer from the almost perpendicular edges of the rock, its massive grey towers and hoary battlements stand forth against an unrivalled background of sky and mountain and islet-spangled sea. On the landward side the castle - no longer girt by the bare wine-dark moorland, as when Dr Johnson visited it in 1773 - is now sheltered by extensive and thriving plantations, through which re-echoes the ceaseless murmur or "Rory Mor's Nurse" - that 'torrent's roaring might" celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in the Lord of the Isles. Around those waterfalls are being reclaimed today the gardens of the castle, whose beauty and range of plant life have already attracted the interest of serious gardeners from all over the world.

But if you wish to seek out the authentic spirit of the Isles you will find her enthroned at Dunvegan, where the castle and its contents embody the essence of all that Gaeldom has meant in the Highlands of Scotland.

Self catering Glencoe

Glencoe & North Lorn Folk Museum

Within traditional, heather-thatched cottages, you will be amazed and entertained by the variety of objects that portray the history of this remarkable area. Topics to discover include history, agriculture, costume, medicine and toys. You can find out all about the infamous Massacre of Glencoe which happened in 1692 when the Government troops, after being given hospitality from the local clan, brutally murdered them in a pre-meditated act which shocked and outraged all of Scotland when the true story came out.

See something of interest for any age in an early 18th Century restored thatched cottage, displaying a selection of artifacts including antique china, toys, domestic and medical utensils, costumes, Jacobite memorabilia and weapons, some found hidden locally after Culloden. Outhouses contain agricultural and dairy implements relating to a bygone age. The museum can be found on the main street in the picturesque village of Glencoe. Friendly helpers are always nearby to answer any questions you may have.

Self catering Glencoe