Enough of dreamy Romantic photographs - back to reality...
When all of our cottages have been 'full', we end up on a Saturday afternoon with 10 duvet covers, 10 sheets, 28 pillowcases and 28 towels to wash and dry. Thankfully, not everywhere is fully occupied very often, but we still do a lot of washing.
Surprisingly often, it all dries on the line outside (I say 'surprisingly' because it's supposed to rain a lot in Scotland - don't believe everything you hear in the weather forecast...)
However, there are days when it 'drizzles' or when the wind is so strong that the sheets would end up in Dunvegan five minutes after being pegged out.
So, we invested in a dehumidifier. After a couple of hours research on the internet, a 3-speed dessicant version with ioniser was ordered - £95 with free delivery - it arrived two days later. (How did we manage without the internet)?
What a fantastic device! It sucks in the damp air, dries it, and puffs out slightly warmed and freshened dry air. A machine load of pillow cases can be dried before the next load has finished washing. It consumes 600 watts of electricity, so is not massively expensive to run.
When we are not drying washing, we are using it from time to time to ward off the musty smells which are inevitable when your home is a converted cow shed - no-one cared about damp-proofing or insulation when they were building this cow shed in 1890...!
