A Skye Adventure…

Our Skye adventure – building a house on a foreign island is in our modest opinion, certainly an adventure – actually started out as a completely unplanned thing… but then again, most good things do!

Early 2003 we decided to go to Canada for our holidays. But unfortunately, due to the SARS disease, we got a negative travel advice from our agent… Now what? After some thought we decided to spend our holiday in Scotland . After one very nice week in Loch Lomond and Glencoe we decided to spend some time on Skye. My father and mother frequently visited Skye and they were always very fond of the place.

The Cuillin from Carbost

I distinctly remember us coming down from the Skye Bridge and taking the roundabout. Our first impressions were… ehhh… well… a bit reserved… However, as we neared our destination (Dunvegan) and saw the Cuillin hills, Gesto Bay , Macleod’s Tables, the sheep roaming the countryside and numerous other views of stunning beauty, I began to understand my parents love for the island.

Again by accident – the Dunvegan Hotel was fully booked – we ended up at Mark and Maggie Skinners B&B “Tullochgorm” and spent a wonderful week there and completely fell in love with Skye. Since that holiday we’ve been coming back to Skye every time we could and, well… you guessed it, we decided we wanted to have a “Pied-a-Terre” on the island.

The plot at Skinidin 

It would take up far too much space here if I was to write down all the details of the search that led us to Skinidin, but on 2nd September 2004 we stood at the side of the B884 running from Dunvegan to Glendale, looking at an absolutely stunning plot of land. Thanks to good friends and skilled people we are – as of 10th December 2004 – the proud owners of that plot!

And then? How did this adventure continue? Well, right now we’re in the middle of all the paperwork – just got the detailed planning permission!! – together with the people from SkyeHomes and Jon Howarth, our surveyor. Our choice for SkyeHomes was evident: they know the local way, the procedures, the people and last but not least, their designs blend very well with the Skye landscape. As we had bought a ‘sensitive plot’, they offered us an interesting deal on the bespoke design of our house to maximize on the plot’s potential while staying within planning boundaries. We can hardly wait to see the end result…

Rogier & Claartje Schaaf - August 2005