Strathnaver Museum – The Clearances Told in an Old Church
A few hours.
The route
Strathnaver Museum fills the old parish church of Farr, on a green slope above Farr Bay at Bettyhill.
It tells the story of the north coast: the valley of Strathnaver, the Clan Mackay, crofting life and the Clearances that emptied the strath for sheep. Out in the graveyard stands the Farr Stone, a Pictish cross-slab carved more than a thousand years ago. Lunch is a few minutes along the road at the Store, the old village shop, with its original shelves and a wood burner.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Lundies House, 8 miles away.
The day
Bettyhill
An hour or so with the north coast's own story in the old church of Farr, a look at the Pictish stone outside, then lunch by the wood burner in the village.
About two and a half hoursAbout 0.5 miles on foot
Strathnaver Museum
An attraction
Strathnaver Museum is the white former church at Clachan, on the east side of Bettyhill between the A836 and Farr Bay. Park in the car park behind the museum: it's signed, its entrance is shared with the Farr Bay Inn, and it's the one with the accessible spaces. The museum opens Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, from 1 April to 31 October, with last entry half an hour before closing. Entry is £7.50 for adults, and under-18s go free. The church was built in 1774, and the displays follow Strathnaver from its earliest people through the rise of the Clan Mackay to the Clearances, when thousands were moved off the land; a room upstairs is the Mackays' own. The annex and the first floor are fully accessible, with an accessible toilet in reception. Only assistance dogs may come inside. Before you go, walk round the graveyard to the Farr Stone, a tall Pictish cross-slab covered in knotwork and spirals.
4 min by car
The Store Bistro & Bar
Lunch
Lunch is at the Store, 4 minutes' drive west into Bettyhill, behind a low stone wall on the main road. It was the village shop for generations, and the old shelves are still inside, some with brand names a hundred years old. Expect slow-cooked soups, sandwiches, bacon rolls, cooked breakfasts and homemade cakes, chocolate fudge cake among them. It opens Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 11am. It's small and often busy, so there may be a short wait. Children are welcome, and there are tables outside on a fine day. If it's full, the Clachan Café on the roadside in front of the museum does coffee, snacks and treats.
If it rains
The museum is all under a roof and the Store has a wood burner, so this is a good wet morning; keep the walk round the graveyard short.
Worth a detour
- Farr Bay
Farr Bay's sands are right below the museum: a path leads down from the car park behind it, and a quarter of an hour on the beach before lunch is easy. Sheep may be grazing on the field and the strip along the bay, so keep a dog on a lead there.
The Store Bistro & Bar, a café in Bettyhill.
Bettyhill Tourist Information & Cafe, a café in Bettyhill.