19th Century Miller's Cottage with stunning views

Beautiful 19th Century Miller's Cottage, in its own large garden with stunning views over Cromarty Firth. In our family for over 50 years. Newly renovated with 4 double bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully equipped large kitchen and dining area, laundry room/larder, very large sitting room with open fireplace, TV room with double sofa bed. Ideal for family groups visiting the Highlands & staycations! Equipped for WFH; Self-check-in; 1 day cleaning between guests. Ideal for family Staycations, with lots of room to spread out and relax indoors and out in the safe garden. Nearest neighbours are 300 metres away. Equipped for Working From Home! We have been AirBnB hosts for several years, with Superhost status, in Scotland and in London, and have now added this family home as a new separate listing. You can also check out our other 5-star-rated listing called: "Your Central London Home Base" with over 150 reviews. Contactless self-check-in is standard. For people needing/wanting to Work From Home, there is good fibre-optic WiFi; a printer/fax/scanner/copier; dedicated spaces with desks/tables (we have regularly operated 3 workstations in parallel in the house); ergonomic desk chair. The cottage stands in its own large garden, with open fields in front and a small wood and lake behind, about 1 km from Evanton village. It has stunning views in front down over the Cromarty Firth, and behind up to Fyrish Hill with its famous monument. Deer, stoats, pheasants, woodpeckers are among regular visitors in the garden (check out our online feed for more photos: @balavoulin_cottage). The Black Rock Gorge, filmed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is just a 10 minute walk. Sleeping arrangements: The cottage is ideally suited for large family groups, and sleeps up to maximum 10 guests (adults or children). It has two large bedrooms on the ground floor (one with a superking-size bed, one with two single beds that can be moved together), a full bathroom with separate shower and bath, and a second bathroom with large shower. Upstairs there are two further bedrooms with king-size beds, a bathroom with bath and toilet, and a TV room area with a double sofa bed. All bed linen and towels are provided. The large kitchen and dining area is fully equipped for 10 guests, with crockery, cutlery, dishwasher, tea and coffee, etc. Off the kitchen is a laundry room with washing machine and separate clothes dryer. The main kitchen window looks onto the back garden, where you can often watch deer and pheasants while eating your breakfast The large sitting room runs the whole length of the cottage, with a beautiful old stone open fireplace at one end. A glass door leads out onto the front lawn, where you can enjoy the long summer evenings. The cottage has all the amenities you would expect: washing machine, clothes dryer, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, TV, DVD, fibre internet & WiFi, kitchen equipment (espresso machine, filter coffee machine, Kenwood blender, dishwasher etc.) Occasional Little Visitors – Please note and excuse: Balavoulin is a rural cottage and surrounded by beautiful flower gardens so on occasion, and despite our best efforts, a stray bug, spider, or other nature-loving creature may wander inside, especially if a door is left open. Guests have full access to all the interior of the cottage and full use of the garden. They are also free to roam the many footpaths and field tracks in the area. We may not be in Scotland when you are staying and therefore may not have the pleasure of meeting you. Contactless self-check-in is standard, but our caretaker will be available to help with any questions you may have about the cottage and the local area. There is more information about the local area in the cottage manual, and there is a good selection of guidebooks on visiting Scotland, its history and culture in the cottage. The cottage is just outside the village of Evanton, in Ross-shire, and is 17 miles drive (30 minutes according to (Hidden by Airbnb) Maps) from the centre of Inverness. It is a good jumping-off point for visiting the Highlands: - Grantown on Spey - heart of the Speyside whisky trail - is 1 hour; - Culloden Battlefield is 35 minutes; - Kyle of Lochalsh (for visting Skye, is 1 hr 45 mins); - Loch Ness starts at Inverness and runs south to Fort Augustus, 1 hr 15 mins away; - Ullapool and the West Coast is 1 hr 15 mins; - Dunrobin Castle is 50m mins away on the East Coast route going North. - John o'Groats, the Northern tip of Great Britain is 2 hrs 20 mins, up the East Coast road. If golf is your thing then Castle Stuart championship course is 35 mins away (green fees £225/round) while the much more relaxed Alness village course is 10 minutes away and only £25/round. Situated on the famous North Coast 500 route, we are ideally placed as a base to explore the Highlands. Just 25 kilometres north of Inverness and the amenities of the city, but the pleasure of the country, with easy access to Loch Ness itself. Note that the cottage itself is a 25 minute walk from shops in the centre of Evanton village - it is not really practical to stay here without your own vehicle. A beautiful road leads off to the West Coast and the Isle of Skye. Or head up the East Coast right to the tip of Great Britain. Evanton also has some of its own features: •Fyrish Monument. This is the stone ruin you can see on top of the nearest hill. It represents the gates of Negapatam in India and was built in (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) by General Sir Hector Munro, a local landowner, in order to provide employment for local people. There is a path up to the monument on the other side of the hill. •The Black Rock Gorge, just 1/2 km further up the Glenglass Road, is a very deep and narrow natural river gorge. It is a rather spooky place and was used for filming one of the scenes in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. •Ben Wyvis is a small mountain (big for Scotland) between Evanton and Dingwall to the north. It is a Nature Reserve and can be walked. Despite only being (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) metres high, some parts of the mountain have snow all year round. There are also many great places to walk just in the nearby countryside and guests will find links to trails we and others have loaded onto Wikiloc in the house manual. Several wonderful varied walks right next to the cottage to keep you exercised during your stay - here are just some examples! Along the Glass River from the Black Rock Gorge down to Evanton village (1 hour round trail - mainly flat); Up the top of Fyrish hill and the Monument (2 1/2 hours round trail - steady climb); along the shore of Loch Glass (30 minutes to 3 hours - mostly flat); along the shore of Cromarty Firth from Kiltearn Church (45 minutes - gentle flat stroll). The cottage is 25 minutes drive North of Inverness. Guests really need their own vehicle as the cottage is situated 1.5 kms uphill walk outside the centre of Evanton village and the nearest shops, and local bus stop. The nearest airport is Inverness (INV), which is served by EasyJet and British Airways flights from London, and one daily KLM/FlyBe flight from Amsterdam. The nearest mainline rail station is Inverness, with overnight sleeper trains from London Euston Station. Edinburgh airport, which has many more flights, is a beautiful 3 1/2 hours drive up through the Cairngorms. Aberdeen airport is 3 hours (but on a much less pleasant road). Please Note: Through till the end of (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) , we have blocked the house for minimum 24 hours between reservations to give us time to clean thoroughly between guest parties. Ideal for Staycations and equipped for Working From Home! Please note that we cannot accept pets because of allergies and cannot make exceptions - sorry! Occasional Little Visitors – Please note and excuse: Balavoulin is a rural cottage and surrounded by beautiful flower gardens so on occasion, and despite our best efforts, a stray bug, spider, or other nature-loving creature may wander inside, especially if a door is left open. Landlord registration number: (Phone number hidden by Airbnb)