Where to stay in Ross and Cromarty
Just over the Kessock Bridge from Inverness lies the Black Isle, a green, gentle peninsula with a firth on three sides. Cromarty has streets of Georgian merchants' houses and fishermen's cottages, and from the shore at Chanonry Point you can watch dolphins in the firth. Inland, the old spa town of Strathpeffer sits under wooded hills, with salmon leaping the Falls of Rogie close by and Ben Wyvis rising above the Cromarty Firth. Far to the west, Kintail is all mountains and sea lochs, with Eilean Donan on its island where three lochs meet. You'll find Pictish stones, waterfalls in wooded glens and fresh sourdough in village bakeries. It's an easy day out from Inverness, but it's much better slowly, over a few days.
Words by Hidden Scotland
Just over the Kessock Bridge from Inverness lies the Black Isle, a green, gentle peninsula with a firth on three sides. Cromarty has streets of Georgian merchants' houses and fishermen's cottages, and from the shore at Chanonry Point you can watch dolphins in the firth. Inland, the old spa town of Strathpeffer sits under wooded hills, with salmon leaping the Falls of Rogie close by and Ben Wyvis rising above the Cromarty Firth. Far to the west, Kintail is all mountains and sea lochs, with Eilean Donan on its island where three lochs meet. You'll find Pictish stones, waterfalls in wooded glens and fresh sourdough in village bakeries. It's an easy day out from Inverness, but it's much better slowly, over a few days.
Balblair, Black Isle
Newhall Mains
On the Cromarty Firth side of the Black Isle, near the village of Balblair, Newhall Mains is an old farm steading restored as a small country hotel. There are a few bedrooms in the main building and self-catering cottages around it, some looking towards Ben Wyvis. Meals are served in a barn-style restaurant that cooks seasonal Scottish food with local meat and seafood, and the bar has a particular love of Japanese whisky. The hotel has its own grass airstrip, so some guests arrive by small plane. Pets are welcome, and the Michelin Guide has given it a Michelin Key.
-full-1761050315.jpg)
Out nowTwice a year, to your door
One hundred and sixty pages of Scotland, every photograph commissioned, every word written by someone who went. Members get both issues posted and everything on screen.
The Daily
Arrives at 5am every day.
A free morning email to see what’s on this week, catch up on what’s happening in Scotland and find somewhere new to go.
The Unsung Corner
Gretna Green, Where Sparks Fly
Recycled Decorations