Ineraval Farmhouse

15/08/2024

Not sure that I would want to do this but, if I did, these are absolutely the people with whom I would do it.

22/06/2024

Forbes Magazine seems to have been quite impressed by the Islay Rum Distillery.

Confession time - I have never yet done the tour so I cannot vouch for it myself. If you visit the distillery while staying at Ineraval (or anywhere else come to that!) then let us have your impressions of it please. In the meantime I shall try to carve out time to do it for myself.

As the article says, the building used to be home to Hastie’s Lemonade Factory - back in the day when Scotland had scores of small local businesses producing soft drinks and before Coca Cola ruled the world. The product was sensational. At least, that is how I remember it!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marklittler/2024/06/20/the-islay-distillery-producing-rum-in-the-heartland-of-peated-scotch/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0pICusZUvxP5XH0lN8yCDc0D7K_C6aac66IBo37-yN7tEvWwTT9yG2BH8_aem_ceOFDpzILnQ5aifLaS1SYQ

Islay's first rum distillery, born in an old lemonade factory, crafts unique rums, blending traditional Scotch heritage with innovative distilling.

03/06/2024

25/02/2024

It feels like winter may be on the way out in The Oa so we crank the machinery into gear and start to get ready for the “season” of 2024. We have already had one visitor this year and our second arrives on Tuesday. We have some availability in March and April but after that weeks are few and far between so if you need your “Ineraval fix” then check out what is available on Ineraval-farmhouse.co.uk.

Today was a mammoth pot hole filling session. Winter always takes its toll on two miles of farm track but I am pleased to report that (apart from a few really awkward ones) they are now filled and ready for drivers!@

Welcome to Peace and Tranquility Unique is a much over-used term but we like to think we have better claim to it than most. Ineraval Farmhouse is situated in a remote and beautiful part of the Oa peninsula. Starting from the village of Port Ellen, you take the Oa Road (single track) for four miles.....

17/01/2024

I will never get tired of this

17/01/2024

A dusting of snow here on Islay this morning making the Shop in the Box stand out like a big red beacon on the Oa.

We’ll be open again just before Easter when hopefully it will have warmed up and dried out a little.

14/01/2024

Good news about ferries has been scarce for the last few years but let's hope that we are now turning the corner.

https://www.cmassets.co.uk/mv-isle-of-islay-official-launch-date-announced/?fbclid=IwAR2UVH7nFF-8rLIPwXL8Pgkv8K8I-Q_TYP2JbHIgcKbzgKw3Gy89zqtztC4

CMAL has announced the launch of MV Isle of Islay on 16 March 2024 at the Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard in Yalova, Turkey

01/01/2024

Happy New Year from Ineraval where we start the year with a lovely winter’s day - both sunny and chilly. Of course, if this weather is not to your liking then you can just wait for an hour or two and something different will come along.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our little business in this very special corner of the world. We love the growing family of people around the world who have joined us here over the years. Always room for more!

28/12/2023

A lot of clearing up to be done after Storm Gerrit hit Islay. Really sad to see what has happened at the Woolen Mill. Travel safely if you have to - otherwise, stay in!

10/12/2023

31/10/2023

Campbells of Islay supply the contents of the welcome pack of groceries that awaits guests at Ineraval. They also have the most phenomenal range of loose herbs, spices, seeds, pulses and pastas to buy. Then there is the delicatessen and the cheese counter! Just as well we have plenty hills to walk it all off!

29/10/2023

And yet another one…

29/10/2023

And another one.

Some Exciting News has just come in from Craig and Petra who are in Oban, attending The Scottish Shellfish Growers Association Conference 2023….

Islay Oysters have WON ‘Scotland’s Best Rock Oysters 2023/2024’

They were judged on Presentation on the Plate, Appearance, Smell and Taste!

29/10/2023

Islay’s food and drink offering has been going from strength to strength in recent years. Something that is increasingly winning recognition.

02/10/2023

An exciting day today. Whatever else Elon Musk may be doing in/to/for the world (the stuff we know about is worrying enough) his Starlink satellite broadband has brought some phenomenal broadband speeds to The Oa. Our previous ISP gave us a decent basic service that was good enough for browsing and even making calls (as long as you have a smart phone up to the job) but it was a capped service. Say goodbye to that now. We now have broadband that is both fast and unlimited. Short of laying two miles of fibre optic cable to the house I think this is going to be as good as it gets. We have been on this case for over two years now. Can’t say how pleased we are to get this over the line!

02/10/2023

The Thunderer speaks…

On the east side of Loch Gruinart, Chitra Ramaswamy shells out on a meal with bivalves so fat, served with chips, they could easily pass for a fish supper

20/08/2023

03/08/2023

We had a great day yesterday with Islay Sea Adventures on their seafood boat trip. Harold and Alec both know that end of the island like the back of their hands and knew where to look out for sea eagles (saw one), deer (saw dozens), seals (saw more than I could count). We dipped in and out of the distillery bays up to Ardmore Island where we stopped for a late lunch of lobster, crab and scallops. Drams were had and the craic was brilliant. We didn’t make things easy for them by taking our almost 92 year old father with us but the boat is designed to accommodate people with restricted mobility and he had a blast.

01/08/2023

If you wanted to show the meaning of the great Scots word “dreich” then you would need to do no more than take a picture of yesterday’s weather. It alternated between drizzle that soaked into you and heavy showers all under heavy low cloud and mist. Dreich.

You will all be familiar with the line that there is no such thing as bad weather, just wrong clothing. Frankly that is just spin but nevertheless we ventured out and made the best of it.

The day did, however, present us the opportunity to christen the latest addition to the Ineraval kitchen - a slow cooker. Fifteen minutes in the morning, chopping onion and a couple of carrots, browning some beef after which we left it to work its magic with a glug or two of last night’s Malbec. We returned about 6pm to a great aroma and a hearty stew which was then finished with dumplings, carrot and turnip and mashed potato. The perfect antidote to dreich - along with the next bottle of Malbec!

The forecast is for dreich to end tomorrow. For a while…

29/07/2023

All the little details 🤍

25/07/2023

The day of days on Islay even though these days you can’t win a goldfish in a plastic bag :-)

25/07/2023

Next on the line up…

Steve & Anne Brusatte!

Join Anne and Steve for a fun session about their book, ‘Dugie the Dinosaur’ 🦕

Suitable for 5 years+

Thursday 7th September, 4pm

📍MYFOS, Port Ellen

Free Admission 😊

Steve will also be presenting his two groundbreaking popular science books 🦖🧪

Sunday 10th September, 2pm

📍Gaelic College, Bowmore

Tickets: £5 (£3.50 concession)

See you there!

23/07/2023

21/06/2023

On a short visit to the Oa on Tuesday we spotted two adders enjoying the warm afternoon. Watch out for these beautiful beasties with a bad bite if you're out and about this summer. 🐍

We'll be looking out for these and much more on the guided walks around our Islay reserves!
Oa Walks https://events.rspb.org.uk/events/44104
Loch Gruinart Walks https://events.rspb.org.uk/events/44075

Photo credit: David Dinsley

18/06/2023

Take a deep breath, get past the idea that the only reason for people to visit Islay is the whisky industry (be patient, this is CNN - goodness knows how Fox News would treat it) and this an interesting article on the economics of whisky and where Islay sits in it.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/16/travel/the-wild-remote-island-at-the-heart-of-a-billion-dollar-industry-spc-intl/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1ihMtsghKQbay5yYNIDjK2ihg3GYLy2Ec2M5A5lvWHi2chuLChLYF4feA_aem_th_AepV1H9rkXPpQq839PW6BtK0ChD4aHXqZe-EuN7A3sBD4ztWelq3BIT2Y4m0RlI-6RY

On the Scottish Island of Islay, whisky-making began in illicit home distilleries. Today, it’s big business.

18/06/2023

Local artist Emma Baker will be hosting a mosaics workshop this Wednesday at the RSPB Loch Gruinart visitor centre! Come along to learn a new skill or just have fun getting creative ☺️
2pm - 4:30pm, £35pp, to book call us on 01496 850505 or email [email protected]

Art and photo: Emma Baker

04/06/2023

Pictured today in Port Ellen where clearly, for some people, the joys of Feis week are wearing a little thin. I thought at first it was a misspelling but then I thought, maybe not. Either way it is pretty clear that they don’t want you camping in their garden. It feels like a new take on what Henry Kissinger once referred to as “constructive ambiguity”.

01/06/2023

There are many reasons why we love welcoming visitors from around the world to Ineraval.

There is something special about knowing that people all around the world want to come to our little corner of it. As a fairly frequent flyer between Glasgow and Islay I am quite accustomed to being the only person with an Islay connection on the plane but tonight I think I may have been the only European! How great is that?!

Then there are the individual connections with from different parts of the world. Arriving tonight to check the house I found a bottle on the table from our departing guests - brought all the way from Luxembourg! That is how it is at Ineraval - part holiday accommodation, part international alcohol exchange!