The purpose of this blog is to publish some of our pictures of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. We lay no claim to these being great photographs - they are just pictures of what we see, taken with ordinary compact cameras. We hope you enjoy browsing.

Richard and Sue


(CLICK ANY PICTURE TO VIEW A FULL-SIZE GALLERY)


Friday 14 April 2017

Skye Villages - Struan

Following on from my last two posts in this blog, suggesting that Skye has no proper ‘villages’ – I can now sense indignation from residents of at least a couple of other locations on the island who may consider that they inhabit a ‘village’.

So, for this post, I offer you one settlement I have thus far missed - Struan.

Struan’s greatest claim to ‘village’ status will be that it has a ‘Village Green’.  This has to be unique on Skye… (Just wait for the howls of indignation from Kyleakin…) Today, there is a strong local community in Struan, and an annual Gala is held on the green – when the wind doesn’t threaten to destroy the marquee.

At present, Struan also has a shop with Post Office facilities, a cafĂ©, a church, a primary school, and INDUSTRY – yes, a manufacturer of high quality outdoor clothing has their business base in Struan.

But there is no village hall… and for my definition of a village – there has to be a village hall.

Sorry Struan!


Here are a few of my pictures of the settlement (village??) of Struan, Isle of Skye

Struan Shop - no-one said it had to be pretty...

Struan War Memorial - Quite rightly maintained in immaculate condition

Information plaques and seating within a stone structure on the village green.
In the background is Struan's industrial centre - the premises of Cioch Clothing

The Bracadale Free Church, Struan. A typically austere Skye church.

Struan Village Green

Struan Cafe, also houses a secondhand bookshop

The garage closed last year

Struan Primary School.
Still open for now, but with only four pupils on roll, how can it survive?

Someone parked a really nice Jaguar by the green...
I wonder whose it is?

Thursday 6 April 2017

Skye Villages - Edinbane

This is my second post featuring villages on Skye. Because settlements here grew as crofting 'townships', where every house had a few acres of land around it,  Skye has very few nucleated villages, such as you might find in England and Wales. After Carbost (see my previous post), Edinbane is pretty much Skye’s only other conventional village. By that, I mean it is nucleated around a centre, and has facilities provided for the residents. Edinbane has residential properties, a school, a play area, a village hall and two pubs… but no church, and (these days) no shop either.

All this is mostly down to the unique history of this particular settlement.

Upper Edinbane is a traditional crofting township, but Lower Edinbane (The Village) was planned as a Model Village by Kenneth Macleod. Kenneth grew up as a Macleod of Gesto, and at a young age travelled to India where he made his fortune by growing Indigo. He retuned to Skye to live at Greshornish and create his village at Edinbane. In the late 1860s, he built houses, a school, a hospital, a mill and an inn.


Today, after standing empty and semi-derelict for several years, the hospital is converted into holiday accommodation. The school survives, but with very few pupils on roll, the mill is gone, and the inn remains a popular attraction to both locals and visitors.  

Here are some of my pictures of Edinbane, Isle of Skye:

The 'main road' through Edinbane is single-track.

Edinbane Primary School.
The school currently has 8 pupils, and the nursery department is 'mothballed'

Post Office Row
1860s housing development, but no Post Office here now.

The former Gesto Hospital
Now holiday accommodation

Edinbane Inn
A lively pub and restaurant, popular with visitors and locals

The Lodge Hotel, Edinbane
Supposed to be the oldest pub on Skye. Also supposed to be haunted.

Winter in Edinbane

Edinbane Burial Ground.
As is common on Skye - the cemetery is not attached to a church,
and is located outside of the village