Giambattista Valli x H&M coat (c/o - similar here) | Reformation high waist trousers | Gucci Disco bag | Arket wool bucket hat (c/o - sold out but similar here)
Why hello there! I hope everyone's week's going well and that you're over the shock of it starting with snow (as you know, the laws of being British state that I have to mention this within the first three sentences). Today's post is equally snowy and takes us back to January when me and Rob headed up North...
Why hello there! I hope everyone's week's going well and that you're over the shock of it starting with snow (as you know, the laws of being British state that I have to mention this within the first three sentences). Today's post is equally snowy and takes us back to January when me and Rob headed up North...
This post starts with a mildly embarrassing story that I wasn't going to share, but then I realised that would be cruel because you, too, might have committed the same foolish act and may feel comforted by my story. So, I'd taken many a beautiful film photo on this trip - on the drive up, during the three days we were there and on the drive home - accompanied by over-confident exclamations like 'these are the best film photos I've ever taken!' and 'these are going to be marvellous! I can feel it in my bones' and so on and so forth. I got home and - being so eager to develop them - was disappointed to find there were still photos left on the film. In an act of sheer desperation, I started snapping photos of mugs and myself in the mirror wearing a dressing gown just to use up the rest of the roll. After my fifth photo of crockery I realised... something's not right. But what could it be? That's right, I'd forgotten to put film in the camera in the first place and had in fact taken NO PHOTOS AT ALL. Oh, the shame. Thankfully I'd taken some on my digital camera so, once the embarrassment had faded, I got to editing them and here we are today. This does mean that sadly there are almost no photos of Dornoch beach, The Falls of Shin, the outside of the airbnb or Elsie the pig who we waved to every morning (I need to go and take a breathe to calm myself down) but hopefully the below will be enough to give you an idea of the magic of HMS Owl. I would like to finish this story by asking 'who designs a camera that makes the sound of taking photos without warning you there's no film in it!?'. Sorry, I need another breath.
So, to start from the beginning, this year me and Roberto decided not to buy one another Christmas presents and instead put our money together to book a wee trip. We both want to see more of Scotland this year - for living here most of our lives we've seen a shockingly small amount of it - and I'd spotted an airbnb last year in Fearn that I was desperate to visit. Known as the 'Black Nissan at HMS Owl', it was built in 1940 as a WWII base for the RAF and was recently renovated (along with the main house) over 5 years to become the interiors feast you see before you now.
We were hoping to visit on a weekend but it was already fully booked through to March so we opted for a wee two night stay mid week in January. After a long but beautiful drive, we arrived; the exterior of the house is completely black so it looks like something out of Harry Potter when you're driving up to it, and the magic doesn't stop there. We opened the door to the warmest welcome from Charlotte, who's one of the loveliest Airbnb hosts I've ever met. The fire was already roaring - quite literally a warm welcome - and there were some delicious homemade muffins waiting for us too. I think almost as soon as Charlotte shut the door we turned around and said, 'I wish we'd booked for longer' in perfect, sorrowful unison. For being relatively compact it's got everything you'd ever need - not one, but two log burning stoves, a big kingsize bed (as well as bunk beds in the same room), a great shower, board games, a well equipped kitchen, a hot tub and a never-ending selection of trinkets to look at. We'd already done a food shop on the way up - there's an Asda about a fifteen minute drive away if you need anything though, fear not - so we settled in for an evening of board games, colouring-in (tell you what, if there's one thing that's fantastic for forcing your brain to switch off for a bit, it's colouring-in) and food by the fire. The hot tub's run by a log burning stove so Charlotte very, very kindly set it up for us both evenings and oh my god... It's one of the most beautiful night skies I've seen. We were lucky enough to catch it on a clear evening and you can see countless stars and constellations - I'm not hugely talented when it comes to night time photos but I managed to snap the above to give you an idea of what it was like. Thank god I had the excuse of saying the water in my eyes was from the hot tub.
Long faux fur coat Acne via The Outnet (c/o - only one left on site!) | Tan ankle boots via Free People (c/o) | Black jacket via Fenwick (c/o)
The next day we got up, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then went on a drive over to Dornoch Beach. We were SO lucky with the weather and - apart from one other family - had the beach completely to ourselves for a morning stroll (it would be lovely to have pictures to accompany this but, aside from that one lonely photo above, you'll have to use your imagination). From there we drove over to the Falls of Shin (where you can see the salmon leaping a little later on in the year) for a really lovely lunch at Mac n Wild. Suitably stuffed, we headed home via the supermarket and had another evening of exactly the same as the eve before - with the addition of some homemade brownies that were very kindly brought over by Charlotte's daughter that morning. It's honestly the best airbnb I've ever stayed at - and a favourite trip overall for both me and Rob - so I hope I've managed to capture even a tiny bit of how special it is in these photos. It sits right on the North Coast 500 route and would be perfect for a romantic getaway, a trip with your mum or a wee cosy stay with pals (as long as you don't mind all sharing a bedroom) - I can't imagine anyone not falling in love with it. You can find the listing for Black Nissan at HMS Owl just there if you'd like to book a trip for yourself, as well as their second listing, which is the top floor of their house and right next door to the hut. I promise you you'll have a truly magical time (and won't want to leave).
On a separate airbnb note, a few people have asked about this one that we stayed in over the weekend! I'm not going to do a blog post about that one so I'll pop the link here for you if you'd like to check it out!
Amy
On a separate airbnb note, a few people have asked about this one that we stayed in over the weekend! I'm not going to do a blog post about that one so I'll pop the link here for you if you'd like to check it out!
Amy
