Balnakeil – White Sand, Studios and Hot Chocolate
A day.
The route
Balnakeil Bay is a long sweep of white sand under high dunes just west of Durness, made for digging, running and a picnic in the marram grass.
On the road back, the old military huts of Balnakeil Craft Village hold potters, painters and a chocolatier, Cocoa Mountain, whose hot chocolate is a favourite on the north coast. It's an easy family day with a warm finish under a roof.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Balnakeil
A morning and a picnic on the white sands of Balnakeil Bay, a wander round the craft village's studios, and a hot chocolate to finish.
About four and a half hours
Balnakeil Beach
An attraction
Park at the end of the little road from Durness, by the old white house and the roofless church of 1619 in its graveyard. A path leads through the dunes onto a long, wide beach of pale sand curving north towards the rocky finger of Faraid Head. It's a place to dig, run and hunt for shells, so bring buckets, spades and a picnic to eat in the shelter of the dunes. When the sea is up it breaks in long white lines, so keep children back from the water then. The way down is through the dunes onto soft sand, which is no place for a pushchair. Dogs are welcome under close control, as birds nest on the ground here in spring and summer.
2 min by car
Balnakeil Craft Village
A shop
Drive 2 minutes back along the road to Balnakeil Craft Village, a scatter of flat-roofed buildings put up for the military and long since taken over by artists and makers. Hand-painted signs at the junctions point the way to the studios: one cottage is covered in mosaic from ground to roof, and there are paintings and prints, pottery, woodwork, glass and the Wee Gallery to wander between. Each studio keeps its own hours. Mudness Ceramics and the Wee Gallery open every day from 10am to 6pm from April to October, but ring the Wee Gallery on 01971 511713 to be sure.
Cocoa Mountain Balnakeil
Hot chocolate
Finish at Cocoa Mountain in the craft village, the pale blue building with the white portico, where chocolates and truffles are made by hand. Its rich hot chocolate is the one to have, with croissants, cakes and a rocky road made with ginger biscuits, and you can sit inside or, on a fine day, outside, where dogs are welcome too. It opens every day from 9am to 6pm from spring until the end of November, and shuts over the winter.
If it rains
The beach is out in the weather; on a wet day keep it short and spend longer in the craft village's studios and over a hot chocolate at Cocoa Mountain, all under a roof.