I spent a weekend at this charming cottage in a Scottish island's secret nook

This hotel is in a beautiful and underappreciated location

Skye is such a tourist honeypot.

However, there are areas that are quieter than others.

If you want to escape the madding crowds, one of the more peaceful spots is the gorgeous village of Elgol towards the end of the Strathaird Peninsula. It’s where Bonnie Prince Charlie hid in 1746, after the Battle of Culloden. However, we doubt that his cave - just a short walk from this destination - was quite as comfortable a bolthole as family business Coruisk House, which has Skye’s Cuillin mountains as a backdrop.

Since 2011, this place has been owned by Clare Winskill, Iain Roden and a handful of friendly labradors, and was recently awarded four AA rosettes for its restaurant-with-rooms offering.

You can stay in one of the four double bedrooms in the main property, or in one of their cute and homely self-catering thatched blackhouses.

We took up residence in one of these for two nights.

An Nead translates into “the nest” and that describes it perfectly. It’s a relaxed and well-feathered spot after a day of walking and exploring.

The main space, with its heated flagstone floor, features a neat kitchenette, and the open-plan living/dining room has a wood burning stove and comfy sofas, all strewn with sheepskins and blankets, with fairy-lights strung across the mantelpiece.

You’ll find a picnic table outside, where we watched a roe deer delicately picking at the grass beside the fence.

The cottage also features a shower room with a bonus washing machine, and the bedroom has a traditional box bed. We had been worried about this, as my other half is six-foot-something, and we imagined him having to bunch up like a hedgehog at night. In the end, we needn’t have fashed, as it’s a king-size number and he slotted in perfectly, like a pizza into the oven tray.

You can cater for yourself, or book into the hotel for their breakfast.

We did our own thing in the morning, but we wanted to see what had wowed the AA inspectors, so we weren't going to miss dinner, which was cooked by head chef Roden.

Before our 7pm booking, we had excellent cocktails in the lounge area, with an upmarket Margarita for him and a smoky and peaty ice-packed take on a whisky sour for me.

We got talking to a young couple from LA. They were thinking about going on a Misty Isle Boat Trip that you can take from Elgol’s Loch Scavaig out to Loch Coruisk.

It turns out that these have been endorsed by Cynthia Nixon (Miranda from Sex & the City), who recently made a TikTok about them.

Anyway, we could share our own afternoon experience on the water. It involved spotting seal pups lounging on the black rocks, and exploring the otherworldly landscape of this inland freshwater loch, which can only be reached with a 45-minute boat trip (or a mega hike that includes a rock formation called the Bad Step, no thanks).

The crew had got extra points for giving us hot chocolates and shortbread on our way back to shore, and for the fun narrative that’s provided by the skipper’s son. He sent us down a Gavin Maxwell rabbithole (or should that be an otter’s holt), when he pointed out the island of Soay, where The Ring of Bright Water author once ran a controversial basking shark fishery.

We definitely recommend the trip, along with an Elgolian (squat lobster cocktail, mayo and salad) roll from The Creel for afters, and a raspberry ripple ice-cream from the Elgol Village Hall. We hadn’t eaten much else all afternoon, as we’d been saving ourselves for our set four-course dinner.

It was especially hyped, as a table of regulars nearby said that this was their favourite restaurant in the whole of Scotland.

My highlights on the old school and sybaritic menu were a beautiful, rich and salty sunset-hued langoustine bisque; an intermezzo of gamey rich hare rillettes with redcurrant jelly, and the pudding of meadowsweet creme brulee, blackberries and a fluffy Sauternes sabayon. My beau was very much into the intriguing ensemble of Sconser scallop with a pale, cool and velvety partridge pannacotta and a thyme veloute, with a plate that was dotted with oceanic Skye greenery including sea aster.

We shared one pud, and a cheese board, as it featured a selection of Highland Fine Cheeses goodies including Highland Brie, a peppery Highland Crowdie, mature Tain Cheddar and Strathdon Blue.

After that dinner, I bet the midges thought we tasted extra salty and delicious as they descended, while we scurried back to our comfortable wee Skye blackhouse at dusk.

Back into our oversized box bed, to enjoy vivid cheese dreams of seals, Charlie’s Cave and cocktails.

Prices at An Nead (Elgol, Skye) start at £230 a night (with a minimum of two nights), see www.coruisk.com