Blog - Tales & Tips from a Scottish Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage

AWARD: Scotland’s Route 66 Award – Best Recommended Self-Catering

What a wonderful early Christmas present for the team here at the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage! We’ve just received receive Scotland’s Route 66 Award for being the Best Recommended Self-Catering for 2022. It’s a richly deserved tribute to all the work by Joy, Tracey and Kim. Scotland’s Route 66 …
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William M Parker - Image from the Hampton University Archives

Three black lighthouse keepers and their stories

October is Black History month, so I am sharing some of the stories of black lightkeepers in the UK and the USA In the days when British lighthouses were manned (and I use that word advisedly) light-keeping was a white affair. The people of colour who have been …
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BLOG: Over the Rainbow – Lighthouses in LGBT fiction

It’s pride month, so I thought I would take a look at LGBT fiction and it’s no surprise that there’s a fair amount about lighthouses and lightkeepers. Authors love a lighthouse. There is so much symbolism in a building that’s simultaneously recognisable and romantic but remote. Plus the …
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BLOG: Re-opening when lockdown lifts

We hope you are safe and well. We’re excited to re-open later this spring. We’ve changed how we do things to keep everyone safer. The Cottage will be empty for 72 hours before you arrive, and of course we give it a full Covid clean too. This means …
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NEWS: Noss Head aims for award glory

I am immensely proud to reach the finals of the Highland and Island Tourism Awards this year. It underlines our 5/5 reviews and is a real tribute to Joy who is first line of contact for our guests, and Kim and Tracy who keep the cottage sparkling clean. …
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BLOG: Home schooling and holidays at the Lighthouse

We are a family that travels full time world schooling our children… our stay has by far been the most knowledgeable and wonderful stay we’ve had to date. My favorite was the books and information provided, alot of time went into this cottage and providing details, and history. My …
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BLOG: If you succeed, I succeed

Joy (who manages the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage) and I went to a conference on Monday about Tourism in the Northern Highlands. It’s not all changing sheets and admiring the views here at Noss Head. We have jollies too. The themes that came through were collaboration and sustainability and …
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BLOG: The quest for greener pencils

The late and very great Ian Dury wrote songs on giant sheets of paper “with a fast pencil” and it’s stuck in my mind because I dearly love a fast pencil myself. My favourite writing implement is the cheapest of the cheap mechanical pencils; they look like the …
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