3rd generation family run farm
If you decide to relax and chill out on the farm.
Culmaily has been in the McCall family for over 50 years spanning three generations of farmers. This is a working farm and you are welcome to look around and watch the annual round of seasonal farming activities.
Whatever the time of year there is always something going on here. We grow award winning malting barley for nearby whisky distilleries and breed attractive pedigree Luing cattle and traditional Cheviot sheep. Guests are welcome to explore the farm, although we would ask you to respect the countryside code and not to walk through fields with animals or growing crops, and keep an eye open for moving farm machinery. We are always happy to stop and chat about what we are doing.
It’s a farm steeped in local history and was “improved “as part of the Highland Clearances by the first tenant – the infamous Patrick Sellar whose family tenanted the farm for the best part of a century. Although he was a skilled and innovative farmer, he was a ruthless and callous man and his past caught up with him in 1819 when he was tried in Inverness for homicide and other offences connected with the Highland Clearances. His legacy remains in the farm he designed and including many features such as the canal he dug to transport cereals down to the Littleferry and seaweed and sea shells back up for fertiliser.
There are superb walks all around Golspie – the Big Burn walk by Dunrobin Castle, along the local beach and harbour, by the golf course and all around the River Fleet estuary – a national nature reserve and a twitchers paradise, where there are endless and varied walks. The fairy tale Dunrobin Castle to the north of the village is within walking distance with stunning walks all around the woods and policies. You can now follow the two mile battlefield trail from Dunrobin Castle following the path of the Battle of Littleferry which took place on Culmaily the day before the Battle of Culloden and was the second last battle to take place on British soil. Take the train to Brora and walk back to Golspie station by the coast and visit the Pictish Iron Age Broch at Strathsteven.
There are plenty activities to keep you busy here locally as the village has a golf course, tennis courts, a bowling green, swimming pool and fitness room. Summer activities are many and varied ranging from the Golspie Gala week through to regular meetings on the Kart track alongside the beach. You can check out what’s on in the area by visiting Golspie community’s facebook page, www.facebook.com/golspie.
If you wish to venture further afield it’s very easy. There are good local day loop trips to be made to Helmsdale and Brora which both have small harbours and heritage centres and the Clynelish and Brora distilleries for whisky tasting. Inland, Lairg by Loch Shin has a very interesting history explained in a heritage centre and is a good lunch stop at the Pier Restaurant before heading off to the amazing falls on the Cassley river. You can meander home through Rogart or the Falls of Shin and Bonar Bridge. Dornoch, with its beach, globally rated golf course and magnificent ancient Cathedral is nearby and well worth a visit taking the south shore of Loch Fleet by Embo, an old fishing village which also has a lovely beach.
Caithness and the Orkneys Islands beckon for day trips to the north and if you head west to explore stunning Assynt, the sugar loaf peaks of Canisp and Suilven are guaranteed to take your breath away. The northwest beaches at Bettyhill, Tongue, Durness and Oldshoremore are all fabulous and well worth a day over to the west.
To the south there is historical Tain with the Glenmorangie whisky distillery, the quaint Easter Ross seaboard villages and the “bonnie” Black Isle to explore. You can take the charming, tiny Nigg Ferry to Cromartyand observe the Soutars or headland in the Cromarty Firth. For the more adventurous there is the exhilarating 2 hour trip, run by Ecoventures which showcases the best of what the Moray Firth has to offer – scenery, history and, if you are lucky, the resident colony of Bottlenose Dolphins. All of these are wonderful days out for a picnic or lunch outing and the Black Isle is full of lovely little artistic communities such as Cromarty and small relaxing golfing and sailing villages.
If this has whetted your appetite, cottages have comprehensive information folders. Sutherland is very much an undiscovered gem for visitors as it is endlessly relaxing, and always laid back.
