An Ardnamurchan Winter Holiday

From Jenny Clifton:

"You're mad" or "You're so lucky" were the reactions we got when we told people that for Christmas all eleven of us were off to Scotland to stay in a remote house, miles from anywhere. Just before Christmas Mum turned sixty and to celebrate her birthday she wanted to take my sister and I, our partners and children to Ardnamurchan for a holiday. For mum (Joan 60) and us (the Cliftons - James, Jenny, Phoebe 2 and Max the three legged wonder dog 10) it would be our tenth visit to the best place on earth but for my sister (the Agrelas - Laura, Paulo, Tara 14, Joseph 7, Lily 5, Samuel 3 and Bella 1) it was her first. I am convinced she thought we were going to the North Pole with the provisions she packed. Mum had been saving £10 a week for two years in order to treat us all to a week at Fascadale House. We normally stay at the Lighthouse at Easter but with eleven we needed somewhere bigger.

We all live in Eastbourne and it is 621 miles door to door. We took three cars and two days to transport ourselves up, stopping overnight at Penrith. When crossing the border the kids worried that none of them spoke Scottish or had their passport. After fourteen hours of driving we arrived thrilled to find such a lovely big house set in a beautiful place with deer and cows just outside the door. The Ferry Stores were brilliant, getting a lot of our food ordered in and fetching baby milk in at a days’ notice during a gale.

We were desperate to show the newbies all our favourite places but we had to deal with the weather. On Friday it was bright but breezy. Our first visit was to Sanna beach. Joseph is doing volcanoes at school so had a hands on lesson as we drove to Sanna. Photos were taken for his project. If we thought the wind was strong on Friday it was nothing compared to the gales later in the week. After being blown about we returned to the house for Christmas decoration making: paper chains, snow flakes and letters to Father Christmas were all prepared.

Christmas Eve was wet and windy so off we went to the lighthouse for a look around. The waves were amazing and foam from the sea was blowing across the car park. The little ones found the wind too much but the big kids loved it. Back at the house we attempted to create a candle tealight runway to help Father Christmas land but the wind scuppered that so we just left milk and biscuits and sign asking him to stop.

The weather on Christmas day was even more wet and windy so only mum and I ventured out for a walk. We only had cows for company and couldn’t cross Allt a’Choire Chreagaich as the water was flooding down. The wind got up and provided a constant noise throughout the house but it still couldn’t drown out the noise of 5 over-excited children.

Tuesday was the only day without wind and rain and we made the most of it. We returned to the lighthouse for a proper explore before the whole clan took to Fascadale beach for a beach bonfire and marshmallow toasting. To celebrate 60 years of mum we tried to send off six Chinese lanterns (one for each decade). Only four made it to the sky whilst two were blown apart in our hands.

The wind continued to blow and Wednesday was our first real taste of a proper Scottish gale. The roof of one of the stone buildings was blown off. We kept the kids in all day and disappointed the younger ones as a visit to Balamory was out of the question. Mum and I went to Kilmory beach at 1pm just before the height of the storm and the wind was out of this world, so strong it blew us back up the hill to the car which thankfully was the right way up with roof box still on. Back at the house the wind was lifting the roof and had turned the sea in to a monster. No photo will ever do it justice. We had never heard wind like it and did worry the roof might lift right off. We were reassured when an Ardnamurchan Estate man came to check on the house. We lost power at 2pm - fun at first but trying to pack up to return home in the pitch black with torches and candles was very hard. Tea was cooked for 11 on a camping gas stove and the log burner kept us toasty warm. Coping without electricity for 18 hours made us appreciate what frequent power cuts must be like – us soft southerners do have it easy.

Christmas at Fascadale was fantastic – it didn’t matter that the wind and rain were almost constant. We now begin saving to bring everyone back for a summer holiday in a few years whilst we will return in April for two weeks at our beloved Lighthouse.