inshriach

Through the post this morning came two copies of Marie Claire Maison containing a feature that went together last year. The editor, Catherine Ardouin, travelled over specially from Paris with photographer Benedicte Ausset and they shot a full 6 page interiors feature on the Beermoth in what turned into an unusual meeting of French fashion, English machinery, and Highland scenery.

If anyone was wondering why we have been a bit quiet up here of late it is because we have had to get out heads round a financial restructure. The long and the short of it is that as of later this year it is going to cost us a great deal more to stay here and continue doing what we are doing. That means generating a load more business so if anyone is of a mind to take Inshriach House, or any of our more unusual holiday options, now would be a very good time to do it. We have hardly any availability on the main house until July but would very much appreciate the custom thereafter.

True to form however, the best ideas seem to be the most outlandish, and we have something really special up our sleeves. Later this week we ought to be able to announce perhaps the silliest (and therefore most pressworthy) project we have ever undertaken. And the full line up for the Insider Festival.

It’s brewing away in the background but now the sun is out it is all going to happen at once, and it needs to. Watch this space.

The Insider Festival 2013 has officially set sail.

The website is live and the first line up announcement is up over at The Insider Festival website. Dates this year are 21st – 23rd June, full weekend tickets are £110 and the musical board of fare is shaping up so fine you would be a fool to miss it.

Freimuth is a Zimmerman. He was over from Hamburg and staying in the yurt with his girlfriend Aedin for a couple of days. Except that he stayed on an extra day and once he had split a heap of wood and we had spent 2 afternoons sorting out the shingle roof on the game shed, there was no possible way I could charge him for the holiday. That roof would have taken me a week between distractions (in fact it has been 2 and a half years since i started stripping it). So – if anyone fancies bartering off some of their holiday against helping me out, just try me.

We are delighted to have added Dezi Donnelly to the tutors for the fiddle week taking place here from the 17th to the 21st June (the week before the Insider).

You can see more details of the week on www.inshriachmusic.co.uk or follow us on facebook.

There are still a few weeks / long weekends left but they are going fast and going late so if you are thinking a big house holiday is for you, get your booking hat on. These are the dates available between now and August.

1st April – 8th April – £2200 the week, £1650 for a long weekend.

25th April to 29th – The last off peak long weekend comes in at £1650.

9th May to 13th or 13th to 20th – £2200 a weekend or £2800 for the full week.

6th June to 10th – The last weekend before the music school kicks in. £2250 for a long weekend.

Then there are three weeks of music school followed by the Insider festival and life returns to normal for 1st July.

1st July to 8th July – £3000 for the week.

25th to the 29th July – £2250 long weekend.

We are going to be on a bit of a fundraising drive this year (of which more later) so it would be a great help to us if we can fill these weeks.

Leads to an unexpected instance of west coast hospitality.

In searching for a not entirely necessary travelling companion for the Beermoth, there were not that many suitable options. It had to be four wheel drive, old and cool and a lot harder than a VW camper, ideally it should sound very fruity and it had to fall within my meagre budget (that being the value of one argocat, sold for £1500). Ebay brought this oddity to my attention, a Land Rover 101. It is a late 1970’s, mid engined, V8 powered. left hand drive artillery tractor, and it was in Tobermory, unseen, and finishing in a blizzard on a Monday afternoon, and what I thought was a hopelessly cheeky bid ended up topping the competition by a tenner.

So I mobilised the slow train and borrowed a huge trailer. The long route and the direct ferry to Tobermory is a stunning drive out through the Ardnamurchan peninsular but I arrived at Kilchoan to find the ferries cancelled with high winds. That meant doubling back to the slightly more sheltered port at Lochaline to catch the last ferry to Fishnish before they too were cancelled, and I ended up stranded on Mull for the night. Fortunately the 101 was housed at Sgrio-Bruadh farm, the home of Isle of Mull Cheese, and Garth who runs the place (but wasn’t even the owner of the 101) gave me the use of one of their extremely pleasant cottages for the night. It might sound a bit odd taking a holiday cottage right up close to a working dairy farm but I couldn’t hear anything and if I was heading back there and needed a place to stay, this would be very high on my list.

Now the 101 is home and the work / expenditure and skinned knuckles have started and next time Garth is in Aviemore he has somewhere to stay.

Due to a change of dates with one of our regulars the week up to Easter Sunday (25th march to 1st April) is now available on the main house and we can offer it at the low season price of £2200 for the full week or £1650 for a long weekend. Email [email protected] if you are interested.

First the bad news. The Rayburn that took pride of place in the back end of the Beermoth has had to be pensioned off. It was very pretty indeed and an important part of the unlikely decorative scheme that made the ‘moth quite the media darling over last year. However, a Rayburn weighs 350kgs, its really designed to go in a house and this one was sitting on a 2″ deep snooker table slate weighing most of that again. Having all that weight hung out the back rendered the truck virtually unusable on the road. There was certainly no danger of the truck bumping its way onto a remote beach in the western isles.

A little barter took place mid way through the year which left us this Quebb stove, now cleaned and painted and rebricked. That’s going out to the yurt (which has stayed open for the winter and has a string of bookings but which could always go with more warmth). Then the little Windy Smithy stove from the yurt is getting a refresh and will go into the truck and I have built a matt black steel surround and replaced the super slate with slate tiles on a ply bed, thereby bringing the levels up and the weight down.

So – going from a totally over the top stove to a really small one will save at least half a ton, it will also see the moth holiday ready and (all things being relative) handling like a sports car. In the process the truck will inevitably lose a little of the decorative implausibility that was its hallmark. On the bright side it will free up a wood fired Rayburn and snooker slate (I have another 4 around here somewhere) for some other whimsical and weighty kitchen project.

http://www.canopyandstars.co.uk/britain/scotland/highland/inshriach-house/the-beer-moth