TRESHNISH

The 4 Treshnish cottages (Studio, Sheiling, Shian and Duill) change over on Fridays. Guests are invited to arrive after 5pm on the Friday afternoon at the beginning of their holiday and must depart on the Friday morning by 10am at the end of their holiday.

An exciting Renewables project took place during the winter of 2008-2009 - we installed a District Heating Scheme heated by a 70 kW Froeling Woodchip Boiler. All the heating and hot water needs for the 4 Treshnish Cottages, as well as the Farmhouse, the office and Laundry are now provided by zero carbon wood chip harvested from Mull forests, chipped and processed within 15 miles of Treshnish. This not only benefits the environment but the local economy as well.

In October 2009, after many years in the planning, we finally installed a 6kW Proven turbine on the small hill to the south of the Treshnish steading. This supplies Studio with ‘home made’ green electricity, as well as the office, laundry and other sheds within the Farm steading building. Any excess is exported to the national grid.

This property is a conversion of the Dairy and a Byre, situated on the west corner of the farm square, designed by an architect specialising in building conservation and restoration. We have tried to preserve the external appearance of the traditional farm steading whilst creating a spacious interior of unique character. Each room has high coombed ceilings, which give an airy feel. Large square Veluxes in the sitting room and main bedroom create plenty of passive solar gain when the sun is shining! The interesting layout of Studio with the 2 public rooms provides families with flexible living space without it feeling too big when rented by a couple.

The Studio has full central heating, run off the wood-chip boiler, and is eclectically decorated with a mixture of antique and modern furniture and paintings. Electricity is home produced, from our own turbine, and on still days when the turbine is not generating the system automatically imports energy from the national grid.

The entrance hall (with adjoining shower-room, W.C., basin and separate utility room) opens into the spacious sitting room. This large sitting room has one view to the north across the farmyard and owners garden over to the sea and Calgary Point. Glazed doors on the hall and entrance door provide a westerly aspect and indirect view, and the Veluxes in the high coombed ceiling give the room bright southerly light. The sitting room is furnished with comfortable sofas, armchairs and an antique dresser. Two single 'box beds' in the west wall provide an alternative to a sofa bed (for the +2). An antique dresser houses the CD player, selection of CDs, books and games. There is also a TV and DVD player with a selection of DVDs. The floor is red pine with rugs.

The main bedroom is accessed from the sitting room and has a fabulous 7' square bed made from reclaimed timber by a local craftsman. The large Velux skylight set into the coombed ceiling floods the room with light and gives the room its relaxing view of the sky – at night you can lie in bed watching the stars! An antique marble washstand works as a dressing table, and there is ample hanging space in the wardrobe. This room has a red pine floor with rugs.

A spiral iron staircase leads from the kitchen up to a romantic sleeping gallery with a small roof-light set into the coombed ceiling overlooking the Point and the sea. This has a double bed.

The kitchen/dining room affords outstanding views out to the Point and to the sea from its small sun room. From these window seats you can catch the best sunsets all year round - over the old grassy ‘stack yard’ and the owners’ kitchen garden. The kitchen itself is well equipped with a gas stove (electric fan oven), fridge freezer, microwave, food processor, dishwasher, dining table and chairs. A separate cupboard houses a washing machine (and there is a shared tumble drier in the communal Laundry). There is a clothes airer in the utility room.

The bathroom is next door to the kitchen and has bath, W.C. and basin. It has a maple floor.

There is a small grassy garden with colourful Rosa Rugosa hedging and a garden bench/table – beyond the hedge there is an area for parking the car and a grassy bank provides extra space for children to play.

Treshnish and Haunn Cottages