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Shandwick Inn |
Shandwick Inn
'The Shandwick' is a friendly pub/restaurant approximately 2 miles from Hamilton Cottage. Highly recommended for a relaxed meal, great homecooked food and plenty of it. Extensive menu with daily specials board. Good range of vegetarian choices.
Our favorites:
Starters - Orkney Herring; Haggis crepes; Garlic or Shandwick Mushrooms
Mains: Venison Casserole; Vegetable Lasagne; Cajun Salmon; Lamb Cutlets
Telephone: 01862 842250
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Portmahomack |
Portmahomack is a lovely old fishing village tucked in a sheltered bay on the north-west shore facing the Dornoch Firth with views to the hills of Sutherland in the distance. Sweeping sands form a horse-shoe bay and provide an ideal and safe bathing area. Nowadays fishing boats and yachts moor in this harbour created by Thomas Telford in the 19th century. The seas around the peninsula are still fished daily by local fishermen for lobster and crab.The beach is great for kids or just a romantic seaside walk. It's approximately 9 miles from Arabella so lovely for a day out as there are a couple of cosy pubs and a very nice seafood restaurant, 'The Oystercatcher' in the village.
The village has recently become a haven for archaeologists who have discovered the remains of an ancient Pictish settlement on the edge of the village. Adjacent to the settlement a very old church has been transformed into The Tarbat Discovery Centre, explaining and illustrating the way of life in Pictish times in Portmahomack.
On the high ground, just above the village lies Portmahomack Golf Club. This is a challenging nine hole typical links type Scottish golf course, with views over both the Dornoch and Moray Firths. Sea breezes can make this course a challenge for most golfers.
Website: Portmahomack
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Inverness |
The capital of the Highlands, Inverness, is an easy drive of around 35 miles away and offers all the facilities you might expect of a modern city, including Eden Court - an excellent theatre which has recently cundergone a major refurbishment. An everchanging programme of current film releases can also be seen there with some of the less 'commercial' films being screened at Eden Court as opposed to the big Vue Cinema on the Inverness Retail Park (just off the A96 heading towards Aberdeen).
Inverness has plenty to please the keen shopper with branches of major chains, most of which are in the warm and dry of the Eastgate Centre. There are also many smaller shops and the interesting Victorian Market as well a some very nice places to eat.
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Tain & Dornoch |
Tain and Dornoch are 5 miles and 14 miles from Arabella respectively.
Both towns are Royal Burghs dating back as far as 1066 when Tain was granted its first Royal charter by King Malcolm III. Tain is steeped in history, revealed and explained by a visit to Tain Through Time - one of the main visitor attractions.
Heading north across the Dornoch Firth, the town of Dornoch greets you with its particularly tidy and inviting appearance. This is the home of the Royal Dornoch Golf Club - a spectacular 18 hole course, world renowned and visited by many of the world's golfing elite including names such as Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw . The area boasts no fewer than 12 quality golf courses, all within an easy reach.
Dornoch Cathedral became world famous in 2000 when Madonna wed Guy Ritchie and drew half of the world's press to the town a few days. At the time, Madonna and her entourage stayed at Skibo Castle, half way between Tain and Dornoch. This palatial, former home of the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie is now operated as a high class country club and is patronised by celebrities such as Bill Clinton former President of USA, television personalities Ant & Dec, Robbie Williams, Sting and many more household names.
Website: Tain & Dornoch
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Dunrobin Castle |
Dunrobin Castle is a short drive further north from Dornoch just north of the small town of Golspie. The fairy tale architecture of gleaming white turrets and sweeping spires draw crowds of tourists each year to tour the castle and look at the splendour of life in years gone by.
Website: Dunrobin Castle
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Hill of Nigg |
Looking out from Arabella Holdings towards the South East, it is difficult to miss the Hill rising above the fertile landscape. Views from the Hill of Nigg are unsurpassed and extend over three Firths and six counties. On a clear day, you can see Ben Rinnes to the south and Dunrobin Castle to the north
Viewed from inland, the Hill gives an impression of being pastoral fields and meadow land but behind that peaceful scene lies the force of The Moray Firth with dramatically sheer cliffs dropping straight down into the sea, protecting the Hill on the landward side. To the north, the Hill gently descends to sea level but to the south it ends in the North Sutor which forms, with the South Sutor, above Cromarty,
'The Sutors of Cromarty' are rightly considered to be one of the great sights of the Highlands. They are the oldest geological features of a landscape, teeming with fossils, perpetually providing an impressive natural gateway to the safe and deep harbour of the Cromarty Firth, clearly visible from the Nairn side of the Moray Firth. The Sutors stand guard over the Firth and many stories were told about them.
‘Sutor’ is the Scots word for shoemaker, and one story goes that two giant shoemakers, the sutors, used the two cliffs as their workbenches, tossing tools one to the other as necessary. In folklore, the Hill has always been regarded as a suitable terrain for the activities of a race of giants. In historic times men, too, have exploited the North Sutor for defensive purposes. Scotland's great twelfth-century king, William the Lion, built a formidable royal stronghold overlooking the entrance to the Firth - Dunskaith Castle, the remains of the curtain walls of which can still be traced among grass and bracken as you go up the Hill from the Ferry to Castlecraig. The cultural continuity of the North Sutor is dramatically demonstrated by the presence of twentieth-century military installations in amongst the castle remains. In both World Wars this was a vital focus for Britain's defence.
The Rarichie Fortifications
Back in the prehistoric Iron Age, the other end of the Hill had a similarly defensive role. A grouping of fortified structures occupies the top of the western slopes of the Rarichies, Easter and Wester, above Shandwick.
The main fortification commands extensive views that look directly along the coast and over to the great seventh-century Pictish coastal fortress at Burghead, near Forres. Cultural continuity of a defensive site is shown here also for the central fortification at Easter Rarichie later acquired, but still in prehistoric times, a secondary 'dun' built within its ramparts.
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Cromarty-Nigg Ferry |
Known as The King's Ferry as there has been a ferry running between Cromarty and Nigg at least since the 1100s and probably earlier, for it would have been a natural route from the south and west of Scotland at all periods, including that of the Picts. Pictish royal connections have been claimed as being present in place-names on the Hill. Cadha Neachdain, (Nechtan's Path) a steep path leading down the Nigg cliffs to Uamh an Righ (the King's Cave) have been associated with the eighth-century Pictish King Nechtan who secured the independence of the Pictish church from Irish domination - a move supported by a saint whose career is linked with Rosemarkie on the Black Isle. Nechtan was a devout king and is known to have retreated into clerical life. So it is not impossible that, when in the district, he crossed on the ferry to secure at Nigg a place of retreat from the world, facing the ocean. More certain is the royal association of the ferry with King William the Lion, for ferry revenues were expected to contribute to the upkeep of Dunskaith Castle. The King of Scots most closely connected with the ferry is, of course, James IV, whose typically late medieval piety involved many visits to a celebrated northern shrine, that of the historically elusive St Duthac at Tain.
Website: Cromarty-Nigg Ferry
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Nigg Cross-Slab (Pictish Stone) |
The monks of Saint Columba of lona will have sailed in their currachs (hide boats) over from Cromarty to Nigg on their way to make a start on the conversion of the northern Picts. The continuing relationship between lona and Nigg is demonstrated by the give and take of cultural exchange discernible in the sculpture at Portmahomack and notably by the carving of the Nigg Pictish cross-slab, now housed in Nigg Old Church. The slab is acknowledged as the finest work of art of its period in Scotland. It and its related monuments at Shandwick, Hilton and Portmahomack are all made of the fine buff-coloured sandstone cut from bedrock on the shore just beyond Hilton. Sculptors at Nigg and on Iona both use the astonishingly intricate decorative motif of large stud-like bosses made up of snakes' bodies. It has been suggested that it was the Picts who taught the bona craftsmen to carve in relief on their High Crosses these same sculptural marvels. The complicated spiral work on the Nigg slab is exactly paralleled in the pages of the great Gospel Book of Kells, produced on Iona in the second half of the eighth century, so the slab must date from around the same time. Many an Abbot of lona must have sailed over to Nigg from Cromarty. The most remarkable feature of the slab is a figurative scene set immediately above the cross. It illustrates in unique detail a story told by the fifth century 'Father of the Church', St Jerome, about the founders of monasticism, the Egyptian Saints Paul and Antony. Its central incident is the sharing of the heavenly bread sent daily to Saint Paul. Because of its monastic associations the story was a popular one, frequently depicted in contemporary English and Irish sculpture but only the version at Nigg presents the Saints as deacons jointly celebrating Holy Mass.
But Nigg Ferry also brought easy access to the south of Scotland, with all the opportunities that opened up there. In the later medieval period the 'Kirk of Nigg’ was important because of its grain production. Its farm produced a surplus which formed part of the revenues of the Bishopric of Ross. Naturally enough, the place itself, with its ancient Christian origins, attracted the Bishop. He had a residence here with access to the Hill from Nigg Bay via what is still known as the Bishop's Walk, a pathway which has been newly re-opened in 2008. The part of the Hill opposite the Old Church of Nigg is, in early maps, called The Bishop's Forest, so no doubt the Bishop's huntsmen will have been busy there in pursuit of wild boar and deer. The Bishop's farm may well lie somewhere below the foundations of Nigg Mains, over the wall from Nigg Old Church.
Website: Nigg Cross-Slab (Pictish Stone)
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Nigg Old Church |
Nigg Old Church stands on a long oval hill with two deep gorges on either side of it, a typically early Christian monastic site. The present building dates from the seventeenth century but the thickness of the walls and several curious features of the structure suggest that medieval masonry underlies the whole.
Little is known about religious life at Nigg in the period immediately after the Reformation but in the seventeenth century, in the reign of Charles II, was born at Nigg an extraordinary religious leader, one Donald Roy, who, after a misspent youth, became the focus of an enthusiastic spiritual movement as one of 'The Men of Nigg', whose evangelical influence was felt far and wide in the North. Various forms of evangelical Christianity have flourished in this area ever since. Hugh Miller, the famous nineteenth-century geologist, one of the first to interpret the lesson of the fossil beds of the Black Isle and Nigg, was the direct descendant of old Donald Roy and narrates many strange legends about his ancestor.
Website: Nigg Old Church
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Beaches |
As well as Portmahomack, there are beaches nearby at at Hilton and Shandwick (which is an Award winning beach).
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Natural Heritage |
The whole of this corner of the Moray Firth and its coastal zones are important for wildlife: not just the famous dolphins but also for many thousands of migratory and over-wintering swans and geese. Close to Arabella are sites which have been designated under European and UK law.
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Bird-watching |
Within walking distance of Hamilton Cottage is Nigg Bay, a site of special scientific interest and home to thousands of migratory birds during the winter months.
Salt marshes developed by the RSPB:
The recreation of a coastal habitat at Nigg Bay aims to reverse the effects of 'coastal squeeze' on a number of bird species such as Skylark, Reed Bunting and Grey Partridge. This project has begun to provide essential crops to boost the bird populations and to attract wading birds. There are hides at Udale and Nigg Bay - These bays are at opposing ends of the Cromarty Firth. The old coast guard station just off the B9175 offers a good vantage point for Nigg Bay. Winter is the best time to view in both locations, when Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Shelduck and Greylag Geese as well as many waders frequent Udale Bay and passage wildfowl and waders stop at Nigg Bay from the Cromarty Firth.
Nigg Bay, Udale Bay, OS ref.: NH 71/65 and NH 790730 OS map: sheet 21/27
The UK hosts wintering populations of waders and wildfowl of both national and international importance. In order to support these populations in the future the large areas of intertidal habitat upon which they depend must be conserved. Managed realignment will increasingly be adopted to restore or create intertidal habitats as compensation for Natura 2000 sites which are adversely affected by development and also to replace habitats lost through ‘coastal squeeze’ as sea levels continue to rise. Managed realignment usually involves breaching an existing sea defence allowing previously defended land to flood on the incoming tide. Over time, intertidal habitats including salt marsh will form, providing a natural defence which will be able to respond to sea level rise.
The Nigg Bay realignment is part of the much larger Nigg and Udale Bays RSPB nature reserve on the Cromarty Firth and is the first managed realignment site in Scotland. The 25 ha site will recreate some of the intertidal habitat lost to agriculture and industrial development in the bay. Since some existing intertidal habitats within the Cromarty Firth are predicted to be lost to sea level rise, and some have already been lost due to industrial development, the project provides an opportunity to investigate how they can be successfully replaced. For further information see www.sbes.stir.ac.uk/people/postgrads/crowther.html
Website: Bird-watching
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Walking, Fishing, Sailing |
Hamilton Cottage makes an ideal base for all sorts of activities, fishing and sailing can be had at many locations close by whilst the area is ideal for walkers, whether you're an enthusiatic 'Munro-bagger' or its just a gentle stroll you prefer.
Website: Walking, Fishing, Sailing
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Distilleries |
A trip to the Highlands wouldn't be complete without visiting one or two of the reknowned malt whiskey distilleries in the area. Close to Hamilton Cottage are the Glenmorangie Distillery (Tain) and Dalmore Distillery (Invergordon), a little further afield can be found the Balbair Distillery on the Balnagown Estate (this vast estate is home also to the 'Falls of Shin' - watching the salmon leap is exhilerating, then there's an opportunity for lunch and a browse round Harrods!)
Of course there are plenty more Distilleries to visit around the Highlands - too many to mention here...
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