Outdoors - what's on our doorstep and a short walk away

Loch Fleet from the air Oystercatchers is marked with the purple dot

There are no lumpy, treacherous tracks to negotiate in getting to the cottage and once you've enjoyed the scenery there is ample parking on flat hard standing for three cars.

 

The large, natural, mostly lawned garden is enclosed by dry stone wall and fence to keep toddlers with wanderlust in and rabbits bent on destruction out. There is a flat stretch of lawn for playing ball games, a sloped bit for rolling down and a tall tree stump perch for observing marauding Vikings. You'll find fold-away garden furniture from which sensible children can keep an eye on frolicing grown ups.

 

The wood store serves as a handy and secure lock-up for bikes.

Loch Fleet with timbers in the foreground Loch Fleet

From the garden a mown path meanders through the pasture in front of the cottage down to the shore of Loch Fleet*. The loch, with the woods and dunes that line its shores is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a national nature reserve as both a habitat of international importance for water and wading birds and a rare example of an unspoilt dune system. It is also very beautiful and supplies us with a large clan of seals sleeping on the sandbanks as well as otters and daily visits from a huge cast of birdlife from ospreys and peregrines to terns and long tailed duck. And even if the nature doesn't grab you, the tides bring an ever changing, ever beautiful backdrop to your holiday.

 

A ten minute stroll along the shore brings you to where the loch spills into the sea and a sandy beach runs all the way to Dornoch 3 miles to the south.

View over Oystercatchers to the sea Oystercatchers and the sea beyond
Children perched on the lookout stump Lookout stump

*Before visiting Oystercatchers, please be aware that the garden includes a gentle grassy slope and that the walkway through the pasture towards the loch is not flat, is prone to the excavations of rabbits and moles and includes a couple of stiles. Care should be taken when walking as we cannot be held responsible should guests stumble or fall.