Ferryman's Cottage

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Introduction

Ordnance Survey surveyors passing through in the 1870s recorded the fare for crossing the River Hope: a halfpenny per passenger, sixpence for a cart, which was hauled over on a chain boat. Ferryman's Cottage is where the man who ran that crossing lived. It went up around 1830, single storey with rooms under the roof, stone-built and harled, slate above, a chimney stack at each gable and an armorial plaque still set into one of them.

WildLand have kept the footprint and lined the inside with warm timber, hanging a few large canvases and running copper detailing through the rooms. Two bedrooms in the eaves, one double and one twin, sharing a bathroom with a deep copper tub. The kitchen opens straight into the living room, with an open fire for the evenings.

Sleeps four. The water is a few steps from the door and Ben Hope stands across it. Before the roads improved, anyone travelling between Tongue and Durness had to stop here and wait for a boat.

Facilities & Services

Two bedrooms in the eaves, one double and one twin, sharing a bathroom with a deep copper tub. Open fire in the living room. Aga, dishwasher and a coffee machine with pods. Laundry area with washer/dryer, iron and ironing board. Starter larder of tea, coffee, milk, bread, jam and yoghurt on arrival, plus a barbecue outside. Linen, towels and toiletries included.

Location

Ferryman's sits at the north end of Loch Hope, where the loch narrows and empties into the River Hope. That river runs a little over a mile to the sea at the mouth of Loch Eriboll and turns tidal almost straight away. The A838 passes above, part of the North Coast 500, though most cars go through without slowing. Tongue is around nine miles east, over the Moine peatlands and across the Kyle of Tongue causeway. Durness is a good twenty miles west by road, because you have to drive the whole way round Eriboll.

Good to know

Sleeps four. Dogs are welcome, though let the team know when you book. Cots available on request. Arrival from 4pm, departure by 10am. Self-catering, but the chefs at Hope will send down a supper to warm through in the Aga. Cottage guests can use the gym at The Clachan and book treatments there. Keeper's Cottage next door sleeps six.

What's nearby

Ben Hope is climbed from Muiseal in Strathmore, 927 metres and the most northerly Munro, a steep half day up and back. Ten miles further down that single-track glen is Dun Dornaigil, an Iron Age broch whose walls still reach 6.7 metres. Nobody has ever excavated it. Loch Eriboll is the deepest sea loch in Britain and took the surrender of more than thirty German U-boats in May 1945. Castle Varrich above Tongue reopened to visitors in 2018 after a restoration WildLand helped fund. To the south and east lies the Flow Country, made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2024.