Padraig's Cottage Howbeg

Padraig's Cottage is in Howbeg on South Uist. It's a detached house, so no neighbours attached. You get the whole place to yourselves.

It sleeps four. Two bedrooms upstairs, one bathroom downstairs. It's a 3 Star place. That means it's clean, warm and functional, but you won't find any fancy touches.

The main thing is the view. The sun room looks straight out over Loch Roag towards the mountains. It's a really good spot for watching the weather come in.

Howbeg beach is about half a mile down the track. It's white sand. The machair is the grassy plain behind it, full of flowers in summer. You'll see a lot of birds. Corncrakes are here, but you hear them more than see them. We see eagles and harriers quite often.

The cottage is right on Loch Roag, which is known for sea trout fishing.

Howmore, which is nearby, has some old church ruins if you like that sort of thing.

For shops, a pub, or a café, you need to drive to Benbecula. That's about ten miles. It's got a Co-op, a couple of places to eat, and the airport. The swimming pool is there too.

Driving around these islands is easy because they're all connected by causeways now. You can get to North Uist, Berneray, and Eriskay without a ferry. From Berneray you can get the ferry to Harris, and from Eriskay you can get the ferry to Barra. A boat trip to St Kilda is a long day, but it's an option from here.

There's a washing machine, towels and bedding are included, and WiFi is there but it's satellite, so it's not super fast. There's parking right outside. Sorry, no pets.

If you're planning trips, the Visit Scotland site is useful. For walking and nature, NatureScot has good information.