Did you know
Fourteen hundred years to the day.
Columba 1400 was founded on 9 June 1997, exactly 1,400 years after St Columba died on Iona, and takes its name from the anniversary.
Isle of Skye
Columba 1400
A youth leadership charity's centre at Staffin, whose café pays for its work, with the Trotternish ridge behind and the sea in front.
Welcome
In Staffin, beneath the long cliffs of the Trotternish ridge, a cluster of white buildings stands round a paved courtyard, one gable marked by a window in the shape of a cross.
Visited and photographed by Simon Hird
This is the centre of Columba 1400, a Scottish charity that runs leadership courses for young people, head teachers and others, and its café is open to anyone passing through.
The café is a round, double-height hall under timber rafters, with tall windows looking out over Staffin Bay and a balcony running round above. There is home-made soup and bread, toasties, salads and baking, and a terrace outside for fine days. Everything spent here goes back into the charity's work. It makes an easy stop on the road round Trotternish, between the dinosaur footprints on the shore and the climb to the Quiraing.
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Before you go
The café is open to anyone passing, with home baking, soup, toasties and lunches, a terrace, and a small gift shop.
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. Lunch 12 noon to 3pm; tea, coffee and baking the rest of the day.
- Booking
- Only for groups of six or more, and only for lunch.
- Where
- In Staffin, on the Trotternish peninsula in the north of Skye.
Opening hours
Their website- Monday
- 10am–4pm
- Tuesday
- 10am–4pm
- Wednesday
- 10am–4pm
- Thursday
- 10am–4pm
- Friday
- 10am–4pm
- Saturday
- Closed
- Sunday
- Closed
Eaten here? Tell others what to order and when to go, and the best go on this page with your name.
Add your tipDid you know
Did you know
Born in Easterhouse and Pilton.
Its founder, the Rev. Norman Drummond, was inspired by Columba and by his early ministries among young people in Easterhouse in Glasgow and West Pilton in Edinburgh.
Did you know
Opened by the Princess Royal.
The centre at Staffin was opened by the Princess Royal on 3 June 2000, after a fundraising campaign that needed personal guarantees from the Drummond family.
Did you know
A big employer in the north.
The centre is one of the largest employers in the north end of Skye.
Did you know
Six values.
Everything it teaches rests on six values: awareness, focus, creativity, integrity, perseverance and service.
Did you know
Twenty-five thousand turning points.
In its first 25 years it worked with more than 25,000 young people and the adults around them, across Scotland and in South Africa.
What is on
What is new across Skye, day by day.
New places, news and stories, as we find them.
What is on on SkyeWhere it is
In Staffin, on the Trotternish peninsula at the north end of Skye.
Close byThe places nearest the centre, around Staffin.
The Hungry GullFresh local cooking in the community hall at Staffin.Under a mile 1 min by road
An Corran BeachA small dark beach whose rocks hold three-toed dinosaur prints, seen only at low tide.1 mile 2 min by road
Kilt RockSea cliffs of dolerite columns like the pleats of a kilt, with Mealt Falls beside them.2 miles 4 min by road
Loch ShiantaA small loch near Staffin fed by what was once the most celebrated healing well on Skye.3 miles 4 min by road
The QuiraingThe largest landslide in Britain, a maze of cliffs and pinnacles at the northern end of the Trotternish ridge.3 miles 5 min by road
Loch LangaigA small loch by the A855 at Flodigarry, where a quiet path leaves the road for the Quiraing.4 miles 5 min by road
Stay nearby
Places to stay near the centre, and when each is next free.
Half of One- Sleeps 8
- In Culnacnoc
- 4 miles from Staffin
The Cowshed Boutique Bunkhouse- Sleeps 1
- In Uig
- 6 miles from Staffin
Monkstadt 1745- To stay
- In Linicro
- 7 miles from Staffin
Skeabost House Hotel- A hotel
- In Skeabost Bridge
- 13 miles from Staffin
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Find out more
For further reading, before you go. The details on this page were checked on .
- Social enterprise caféOpening hours, and where the money goes.columba1400.comOfficial↗
- Café menu 2026Soups, salads, toasties and hot bowls.columba1400.comOfficial↗
- Columba 1400Its story, its values and its work with young people.columba1400.comOfficial↗
- The centre at StaffinThe building, its halls, and hiring it.columba1400.comOfficial↗