Clanranald Holidays

The History of Heather Cottage

The first record of the cottage officially is an entry in the Assynt estate records in 1892. It is suspected that the cottage is older than that and that the cottage dates from the Highland clearances which started about 1790. The cottage would have been an ideal site as Highland folk from inland would have been escorted to the pier where they would have been deported (to Canada) or they would have tried to croft the land.

The first record of tenant is John Lamont.

The cottage was defined as a "Cottar" house. According to the 1886 Crofters (Scotland) Act, a cottar is defined as being a person who occupied a dwelling house within a crofting parish with or without land who paid an annual rent to the landlord i.e. a squatter who had situated in a crofting parish who paid an annual rent not exceeding £6.00 to the landlord, and in either case with or without land attached to the house.

Heather cottage is situated in croft no. 66 and was given the address 525 Baddidaroch. It was known as Lydia’s croft. If you follow the road to the dead end of Baddidarroch Road, all the houses are on this same croft. At the end of the road you can still see Lydia’s original croft. It is now a wood store but this was Lydia’s little house once upon a time. Lydia’s descendant, Kerry, stays in the new house facing the water and is the crofter for plot no. 66 now.

There are many variations on the spelling of Baddidaroch. The first entry we have for the spelling is Badidarroch, but who know… There are only nine houses in the hamlet of Baddidarroch.

In 1928 the cottage was handed over to Mr Lamont’s niece, Sarah MacLeod on his death. She remained in the house until her death in 1950.

William MacLeod took over the cottage. His relationship to Sarah was not known in the old documents that we have. William lived in Inverness with his wife. They kept the cottage as a holiday home. They first named the cottage "Inverness Cottage". William died in November 1967.

The original cottage is a two-room house (the old part at the back of the cottage). There was no bathroom! Both rooms have an open fire (now hidden), which provided the heat and cooking facility for the cottage.

In 1969 the cottage was taken over by Norman White and Elizabeth McLeod. They came from Edinburgh and settled in Baddidaroch. They had one daughter Fiona. On 18^th February 1988 Fiona MacLelland (married name) was given the lease on "Inverness Cottage". She bought the cottage from the landowner, Mr Edmund Vestey. Fiona used the cottage as holiday lets as she already has a house in Baddidaroch (the first house on the left opposite the Albannach).

In October 2004 Heather & Colin Macdonald bought the cottage and decided to rename the cottage after Heather and so "Heather Cottage" is born!

Colin’s family come from Baddidaroch over many generations. Heather and Colin own the croft and house no. 73 “Willowbrae” in Baddidaroch. Colin’s great grandfather was born in Willowbrae and both Donald and Colin have been travelling to Baddidaroch since they were babies. Baddidaroch is in our family blood and our sons; Cameron Donald and Leodhas Alexander are both thoroughly enjoying the wonders of "Baddi" and Assynt. Our newest addition, Struan Murray Macdonald has still to enjoy the wonders of Assynt as he was only born in 2006. His big brothers will no doubt point him in the right direction. We cannot think of a better way to bring up young boys than in the beautiful Assynt area. They will one day be the proud recipients of Willowbrae and Heather Cottage.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading about the cottage history and that you enjoy your stay in this beautiful part of Scotland as much as we do!