B&B or Self Catering?

B&B or Bed and Breakfast is a convenient way for a travelling visitor to procure a bed for the night and breakfast the next morning. There are many B&B establishments in Skye and Lochalsh, ranging from small croft cottages to large modern purpose built premises.

Historically, the B&B business started when Skye began to become a tourist attraction. People wanted to visit this unique and beautiful part of Scotland, and they needed somewhere to sleep. Crofters would often be asked if they had ‘a bed for the night’ and soon, the hospitable offer of free accommodation turned into a useful money-making business, usually operated by the crofter’s wife.

Visitors would share the crofter’s house – maybe sleeping in a spare bedroom, but sharing the bathroom facilities (such as they were) and eating breakfast with the family. There are still a few B&Bs where little has changed, though over the years, it has become commonplace for B&B accommodation to include an en suite bathroom or the exclusive use of a separate bathroom, and many establishments also offer a guest lounge and dining room, often with free broadband access for the wi-fi equipped traveller. B&B businesses are invariably family owned and run, and many hosts take pride in offering substantial high quality cooked breakfasts to their guests.

In the 1950s, an increasing demand for holiday accommodation encouraged local residents to come up with other ways of providing beds for the visitors. By putting a caravan on the croft, beds could be provided for visitors who were willing to cook their own breakfasts. Ideally, such visitors would stay for a full week, rather than the night or two that the B&B guests would stay… and the idea of self-catering was born.

There are still a few self catering caravans to be found on Skye, but the modern visitor has come to expect self catering accommodation to provide all the space and comfort of home. So today, although self catering accommodation comes in all shapes and sizes - from one bedroom chalets and apartments, through restored croft cottages to modern bungalows and houses with five or six bedrooms - a typical self catering cottage will be equipped with a modern fully fitted kitchen with full size cooker, fridge and freezer, microwave oven, electric kettle and toaster, a washing machine and maybe even a dishwasher. There will be a comfortably furnished lounge with colour TV, and bedrooms will be made up with cosy duvets. The bathroom is likely to have an electric shower.

The ‘icing on the cake’ is that the majority of B&Bs and self catering accommodation in Skye and Lochalsh is situated in stunning locations, with views to die for out of every window. A visitor is more likely to be woken in the morning by birdsong rather than traffic noise, and when they draw back the curtains; they will probably be greeted by a view of grazing sheep, the sea, mountains and sky.

Are you coming to visit soon?