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in Ross and Cromarty.

It’s 20:58 in Ross and Cromarty.
Ross and Cromarty

Cromarty, Fortrose and Rosemarkie.

The villages of Ross and Cromarty grew up on the sea, and the Black Isle has a lovely string of them. Cromarty is a handsome old town of Georgian merchants' houses and fishermen's cottages, with Hugh Miller's thatched birthplace on Church Street. Fortrose has a small sandstone harbour by Thomas Telford, full of dinghies and yachts, and Rosemarkie a High Street of old cottages and a beach on the Moray Firth. Further north are the fishing villages of Portmahomack and Hilton of Cadboll, and in the west, the painted cottages and palm trees of Plockton. Park once and explore each one on foot.

Hilton of Cadboll→
Rosemarkie→
Killen→
Cromarty→
Plockton→
Portmahomack→
Village of the day18 hours ago

Hilton of Cadboll.

The northernmost of the three Seaboard villages on the Easter Ross coast, a fishing village above the shore, by the site of its famous Pictish cross-slab.

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From our guide16 hours ago

Cromarty.

At the very tip of the Black Isle, Cromarty is a beautiful old town to wander for a whole afternoon. Its streets are lined with white Georgian merchants' houses and low fishermen's cottages, many of them built in the 1770s, when the laird George Ross gave the town a harbour and new industries. On Church Street stand the old Courthouse and, a few doors along, the thatched cottage where Hugh Miller was born in 1802. Look across the firth to the oil rigs moored off Nigg. Parking is free, and everything is close together.

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From our guide12 hours ago

Rosemarkie.

Rosemarkie is a small village with a very long story. The Picts lived here, a chapel was founded in the late 500s, and in 1125 King David made it the first seat of the bishops of Ross. Today it is a quiet and lovely place. The narrow High Street is lined with cottages from the late 1700s and early 1800s, and the Plough Inn, with a lintel dated 1691, stands at the bend at its northern end. Marine Terrace runs along the shore beside a sandy beach. Walk the sand, call into the museum for the Pictish stones, then head up the Fairy Glen.

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From the magazine7 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 09Issue 09Autumn / Winter 2024-25

Portmahomack, a fishing village in Easter Ross, is on Scotland's east coast but faces west, and a berth in its harbour means a wait of 25 to 30 years.

On the Tarbat Peninsula, the quirks of the local geography turn the village back across the Dornoch Firth. Its partly sheltered spot has drawn settlers for millennia, with shell middens dating back to at least 1,000 BC. Fishing kept it busy, and some 40,000 lobsters were caught in the spring of 1792 alone. Its harbour was designed by the engineer Thomas Telford, and today it is a popular spot for sailing, fishing and wildlife boat trips in waters renowned for their dolphins. Take a walk out to Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, standing since 1830, which at 43 metres is the tallest lighthouse on the Scottish mainland.

See Portmahomack · Easter Ross
From our guide3 hours ago

Plockton.

Plockton curves round a small, sheltered bay near the mouth of Loch Carron, with a row of painted cottages along the shore and palm trees by the street. Across the water, white cottages sit on a wooded point with the mountains of Wester Ross behind. It was built as a fishing village in the early 1800s for families cleared from the land, and it knew hard times before the railway came. Artists have long loved it, and television viewers will know it as the setting for Hamish Macbeth. In summer, boat trips leave the harbour to see the seals.

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Villages1 hour ago

Killen.

Rural and remote, this tiny hamlet can be found on the Black Isle, jutting out towards the North Sea

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VillagesJust now

Portmahomack.

A pretty fishing village on the Tarbat peninsula, looking west across the Dornoch Firth, with a sandy bay, a small harbour and views to the Sutherland hills.

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