:: Wild Places Blog ::

–>  Offers over £125,000 for house and croft <–

A substantial, south facing, detached, 3 or 4 bedroomed, croft house located on the beautiful west side of the Isle of Lewis, and is just six miles from the famous standing stones at Callanish. Internal viewing highly recommended!

NEWS! The Hebrides has been added to Google’s ever increasing Street View series. I must say that i was pretty amazed by the quality of the images, perhaps a bit wibbly wobbly where the joins are but that’s just being picky really.

(For the non-geeks amongst you when the map loads drag the little yellow man from his perch on the navigation tool - Street View roads will show up on the map outlined in blue)

Here is the link: 14 Upper Carloway, HS2 9AG House and croft for sale

To contact me for more information or to arrange a viewing: Contact me

Why am i selling such a beautiful house? Well all i will say for now is that i’m not abandoning the Hebrides and “watch this space…”

Current weather in the Isle of Lewis:-

The house comprises, on the ground floor:-

• a good-sized dining kitchen( 4.85m x 4.12m)
• sitting room with open fire (lovely marble surround) which runs the central heating
• lounge (could be 4th bedroom)
• dining room
• under-stair store cupboard with shelving
• front porch
• downstairs toilet

Upstairs:-

• 2 double bedrooms one with large built-in wardrobe
• 1 single bedroom
• study
• bathroom
• and three large storage cupboards

The driveway is tarmaced and there is a 7m x 4m outhouse (which has previously been used as a stable for two horses). The garden is approximately half an acre and the views from the property are fabulous - from the front, southerly view you look down the croft to the sea loch and to the Harris Hills beyond. To the west you can see the Atlantic which is less than a mile as the crow flies (and about a mile by road). From the back garden, on a clear day you can see as far out as the Flannan Isles.

The croft at 14 Upper Carloway extends to 3.5 acres.

The Western Isles is a fabulous place to live with an abundance of birds, plants and other wildlife, it was also named recently in the Sunday Times as one of the top 10 surfing places in the UK.

So, go on, make us an offer for this great property!


Other useful information:-

Council Tax

Council Tax Band: C
Please note that in Scotland your Council Tax bill also includes your water and sewage charges

The Council Tax and water rates for 2010-11 are:-
Council Tax: £ 910.22
Water: £163.12
Sewage: £186.72
A total of £1260.06

The property has mains electric, mains water and is connected to the mains sewage

The nearest primary school is in Carloway, less than a mile from the house
The nearest secondary school is in Shawbost, 6 miles or in Stornoway
The nearest pub/hotel is the Doune Braes Hotel 3 miles away
The nearest doctors surgery with pharmacy is in Carloway, less than a mile from the house
The nearest hospital is in Stornoway

As regards public transport the bus service is excellent - you can just flag down the bus as it passes the house.

There are two supermarkets in Stornoway - the Co-op which is the biggest and Tesco.

Stornoway, the main town on the island (population c.8000) has other shops too such as Boots and Superdrug. Plenty of pubs, hairdressers, clothes shops, gift shops, and cafes. Stornoway is about 15-16 miles away if you take the most direct route - the Pentland Road which runs across the moors.

Ferry timetables and prices are available from Caledonian MacBrayne

Kitchen

Kitchen

Lounge

Sitting room

Bathroom

Double bedroom

Single bedroom

Rear hallway

Outhouse

The local scenery is pretty varied - from meadows and croftland, to sandy beaches and bleak moorland. All, to my mind, wild and beautiful!

The world famous Callanish Stones, second only to Stonehenge (only 6 miles from the property)

Stornoway at night

Taken at midnight during midsummer - being so far north it hardly gets dark at all during the summer months

Drying the hay the traditional way, Bragar, West Side, Lewis

Carloway Broch about 3 miles from the property, dates back to the Iron Age

The nearest beach at Dail Mor - one of the reasons that the Isle of Lewis was voted in the top ten of UK surfing locations

The sea loch at Carloway

Yes, birds, my favourite subject! What can i say except that the bird life on the Isle of Lewis is just fabulous!. There is nothing in the world to beat being out on a mild, calm, late May evening and hearing the unique call of the Corncrake - along with Curlew, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Redshank, Sedge Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler. And what more evocative sound can there be than that of a drumming snipe. Pure magic!

Here are just a small selection of photographs taken in Lewis:-

Corncrake - a rare view of this usually skulking bird

Dunlin, on the beach at Siabost

Oystercatcher

Waxwings feeding at the local supermarket car park

A pair of swallows

The island’s flowers are stunning during the months of May and June - the machair and the meadows are just full of a vast variety including orchids. In the boggier parts of the island the plants are just as interesting - sundew, butterwort and lousewort abound.

Orchid

Yellow Iris