The Best Holiday Homes to Rent in Scotland this Winter

Black h is a house for two on a 40-acre croft on the Harlosh peninsula, on Skye’s west coast. The Skye architects Dualchas designed it, and its floor-to-ceiling glass takes you from sunrise over the Cuillin to sunset behind Macleod’s Tables. On a wild day you can watch the weather come in across Loch Bracadale without leaving your chair.

Inside it’s calm and warm, with polished concrete, oak, a wood-burning stove and a record player with a stack of vinyl. The king-size bed faces the loch. It’s for adults only, and you’ll want a car.

More about Harlosh Black h

Stonechat Bothy is a hideaway for two on a wildlife croft at Drumfearn, on the Sleat peninsula. From its windows there isn’t a road, a house or a streetlight in sight, only pine and birch, heather and moor, and the mountains beyond.

It’s made for winter. There’s underfloor heating, a log burner fed with firewood grown on the croft, a deep bath and a king-size bed. You’ll find books, maps, jigsaws and watercolours for the rainy days, and blankets for stargazing on the clear nights. The owners live close by on the croft.

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Lagan Glas is a holiday cottage for six in Glendale, in the north-west of Skye, about 15 minutes’ drive from Dunvegan. It has three bedrooms, two with king-size beds and one twin, and two bathrooms.

The heart of the house is a two-way wood-burning stove that sits between the dining and living areas, so you get the fire wherever you are. There’s a deck with views out over the sea, and a charger if you’ve come in an electric car. Stays run from Saturday to Saturday.

Visit Lagan Glas

57 Nord is two houses on the hill at Upper Ardelve, looking down to Loch Duich, Eilean Donan Castle and the mountains of Kintail. Sky House is for two, with one bedroom, a Danish wood-burning stove, a free-standing stone bath and a deck with a firepit.

Hill House, next door, has two suites for couples or a family, each with a stone bath of its own, and a wood-burning stove. Inverness Airport is about two hours’ drive away.

Visit 57 Nord

Ancarraig is twelve Scandinavian-style lodges in twelve acres of private woodland on the Great Glen Way, above Loch Ness. Drumnadrochit is about three miles away and Inverness seventeen.

Each lodge sleeps four in two bedrooms, and each has a wood burner, so you can come in from a cold walk along the Great Glen Way and warm up quickly. Dogs are welcome in all of them.

Visit Ancarraig Lodges

The Dell of Abernethy is a lodge and five cottages on the edge of Abernethy Forest, a mile from the centre of Nethy Bridge in the Cairngorms National Park. The smallest, Little Dell and Dell Cottage, are for two. West Dell and South Dell take six, and Dell Lodge has four bedrooms.

There are fires all round: a woodburning stove in Little Dell, an open fire in Dell Cottage and fireplaces in the others. The Dell has its own small grocer, open Monday to Saturday, with oven meals and wine, so you needn’t drive out for supper.

Visit Dell of Abernethy

Tower O’Ess is a Victorian tower on the banks of the River Tanar, built between 1871 and 1873 as the grand entrance to Glen Tanar. Today it’s a hideaway for two, with a super-king bed, a double-ended roll-top bath and a fire in the sitting room. The old gatehouse pulley is still there.

Outside, a fairy-lit hot tub looks out into the woods under tall Scots pines, with the river running past. The whole 25,000-acre estate is on your doorstep. It isn’t suitable for children.

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Cuttieshillock is an old stone house on the edge of the forest, four miles from the heart of the Glen Dye estate. For centuries it was an inn, and troops rested here during the Jacobite Rising. Today it sleeps six in three bedrooms, one with a four-poster, and the sitting room has an open fire and walls hung with art.

Out in the garden there’s a studio with a wood burner, a fire pit, and your own wood-fired sauna and hot tub. Sheep graze past the windows, and dogs are welcome.

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Dun Aluinn is a handsome Victorian house on a rise above Aberfeldy and the River Tay, with a terrace that looks down the valley to Schiehallion. It has been renovated as a design-led house for up to eighteen, with a bronze dining table for twenty, modern art and fires in the grates.

There are nine bedrooms, all en-suite, one with a Japanese soaking tub and one with its own steam room. A butler looks after the house, and in the woods beside it a wood-fired cedar hot tub shares the view.

More about The House at Dun Aluinn

The Cartshed is one of the old farm buildings at Eastside, the Cowan family’s hill farm in the Pentland Hills. Studio IMA turned the 18th-century cart shed into a hideaway for two. Inside it’s calm and minimal, with pale timber slats, a black kitchen, a wood-burning stove and big picture windows onto the hills.

A private session in the farm’s wood-fired sauna is included in your stay. The farm is a mile up a track in a hidden valley, yet Edinburgh is close. Its neighbour, the Wash House, is just as carefully made.

More about Cartshed

The Barn at Williamstone is a former grain store from 1890, on the edge of North Berwick, that became a holiday home in 2017. It has three bedrooms, a mezzanine snug, underfloor heating and a wood-burner, and there’s a hot tub outside.

You can walk to the beaches in about ten minutes and to the High Street in fifteen, so a winter weekend here needn’t involve the car at all. Stays are for three nights or more.

Visit Williamstone Farm Steadings