We've Bought A House (we hope)!

After the sudden sale of Aird View, Sue and I got down to searching the Skye estate agent's websites to find a replacement. The plan was to buy a property we thought would let well, but closer to home than to 30-odd miles that we were driving to Aird View every week to do the turnrounds.

And here's what we are hoping will soon be ours...

7 Roag

The house from the road

We are only able to make a conditional offer at this stage because we will need the cash from the sale of Aird View to pay for 7 Roag, and we understand our purchaser is currently arranging their finance. So we now face the anxious nail-biting wait of a month or two while the wheels of house-purchase grind slowly on. In the meantime, if someone else comes along with a bucket of cash and wants to buy 7 Roag, we lose out. How come in this super-fast digital age you can do almost anything with a click of a mouse, but to buy a house takes a couple of months...? Hmmm... 

7 Roag is a traditional Skye croft house, and stands at the upper end of the Roag township with a great view over Pool Roag and surrounding hills. It is only one and a half miles from the Barn - we can see it from our front windows! It is immaculate inside and out, with some lovely 'old' features, including a beautiful range cooker and some v-groove wood paneling to some of the walls, but it also comes with all the modern conveniences which will make it comfy and cosy for our holiday visitors. 

More news soon, and hopefully all good news!

We've Sold Aird View!

After nearly a year on the market, a lady came to visit Aird View last weekend, and has since made us an offer which is conditional on her obtaining a mortgage, but we have verbally accepted. We are quite pleased that Aird View looks set to again become a family home rather than a holiday let.

Aird View

Wow! This occurrence left us briefly in a state of shock, and now we are in a state of near-panic as we try to cope with not only the planning of the re-build of the Barn, which is due to start on 1st November, but now with the sale of Aird View, which is due to complete in Mid-December!

Part of our panic is due to the fact that our plan was always to replace Aird View with another letting property nearer to our home, to make the managing of turn-rounds and gardening, etc. easier for us. There are a number of properties for sale on Skye right now, which is good news for us, but there seem to be surprisingly few which look 'just right' on paper. We have already viewed one very old but nicely modernised cottage which turned out to be a disappointment for various reasons. Today we are due to look at an attractive croft house, and on Saturday we have a viewing booked at a modern bungalow.

I guess we'll find something to suit us soon, and then there'll just be the nightmare of storing all the furniture from here somewhere for when the building starts, and also of moving the contents from Aird View to somewhere when the sale completes... I hope we will have a new place lined up for then, otherwise we may need a large tarpaulin on the lawn...

All Change At The Barn

I mentioned a while ago that we were planning to re-convert the Barn (where we live) from the current two apartments into one house. This is due to happen during the coming winter. So far - the plans have been drawn up professionally, and the necessary planning permission and building warrant has been obtained. Our builder is on target to begin work in November.

The outside of the building won't change too dramatically, but just for the record - here is a picture of how it looks today...

Roskhill Barn, August 2014

Dunvegan Remembers

Commemorating the beginning of World War One, a hundred years ago today - a parade through the village and service at the war memorial was organised by Dunvegan Community Council. The parade was led by the Pipes and Drums of the Isle of Skye Pipe Band, and included service personnel from HM Royal Naval Base, Clyde, the Army, Royal Regiment of Scotland, and the Royal Air Force, Lossiemouth. Also parading were Army Cadets from Portree Attachment, the Royal British Legion, North Skye Branch and members of HM Coastguard.

The Pipes and Drums of the Isle of Skye Pipe Band leads the parade past the Bracadale and Duirinish Parish Church, at which a salute was taken by the Lord Lieutenant for Skye, Mrs J. Bowen, Chair of Dunvegan Community Council, Maressa Munro, and relatives of those men named on the village war memorial.

The parade is followed by a large crowd made up of local people and visitors to Skye. Dunvegan War Memorial stands on a rocky outcrop above the main road through the village. The path to the memorial has been resurfaced earlier this year, and flood lights have been installed. The lights will be switched on for the first time at 11.00pm this evening - 4th August 2014 - 100 years to the day since the start of World War One.

The parade stands to attention at the war memorial, viewed from the Dunvegan Hotel.

In salute, a Typhoon aircraft from 6 Squadron, 1 Group, RAF Lossiemouth roars over the village war memorial then turns abruptly skywards and almost immediately disappears into the clouds.

Following the service at the village war memorial, the parade re-formed to march through the village to the village hall.

Following the parade through the village, the large crowd of onlookers begins to disperse. The crowd was made up of people of all ages, and included visitors to Skye as well as many local residents.

Dunvegan war memorial - The newly installed floodlights were switched on at 11.00pm tonight, marking the precise moment of the beginning of World War One, a hundred years ago.