About Wilderness Cottages

Introduction We would like to introduce ourselves, our "team" and our policies to you and help you to get to know who we are. Wilderness cottages was formed in 1993 by Andy and Rosemary from a single self catering cottage near where they live by Loch Ness and who built up a small collection of high quality, environmentally friendly, self catering cottages for year round use and all pet friendly, all in the Highlands and all within easy reach of Loch Ness, acting as agents and managers for a number of self catering cottage owners mostly on South Loch Ness. All the cottages were known to them personally. This is one advantage Wilderness Cottages has over many larger agencies, who very often have not visited the cottages and who's interest really only lies in marketing the summer season. After 11 years running the business, Andy and Rosemary decided to change direction and approached ourselves (Corinne & Gordon) to take over the business, which we did in January 2004. We continue with the same policies - environmentally friendly, pet friendly ( wherever possible - a few cottages are really not suitable ) and, most importantly, with personal customer service, both prior to and during your holiday. We are always available to help sort out any problems that you might have, of whatever kind, as we too, live near Loch Ness and are close to many of the cottages. For cottages further afield, we are only a phone call away. Since taking over, Gordon and I have significantly increased the number of cottages we can offer you, and branched out to the west coast, where many of you are keen to stay, and also further south. Some of you enjoy 2 centre holidays - what better combination than a week on the west coast, followed by a week near the ever mysterious Loch Ness. Andy and Rosemary are still on the fringe of Wilderness Cottages and are our webmasters for the Wilderness Cottages website and prepare the web pages and photographs for all the new cottages.

Our Enviroment Mindful about the environment and the need to preserve the landscape and minimise pollution everywhere, it is especially important in places like the Highlands , where clean air and beautiful unspoilt scenery are still prevalent. We try to play our part, both in our own home and self catering cottage and in some of the cottages that we manage for the owners that live away, by providing recycling containers for glass, aluminium drinks cans, metal cans, cardboard, with a compost heap for organic waste. In the kitchen you will find a range of "Ecover", environmentally friendly, cleaning materials and detergents. We endeavour to inspire other owners to do likewise.
Our Wild Friends The birds are fed regularly throughout the year and we are always very grateful if you take over this pleasurable task while you are in residence. You will be rewarded with hours of amusement! However, please put whole peanuts in the wire holders, and not on the bird table especially during the nesting season, (April through to August) as the chicks could easily choke on whole nuts. Thank you. Pine martens enjoy jam sandwiches!! They have been known to come into close proximity for such delicacies in the summer evenings. In summer 2000, there was a family of three martens visiting Hazelgrove garden daily. Red squirrels come to several of our cottage gardens for the hazelnuts which grow in abundance in the area, and during the autumn you will see them busily gathering them for their winter stores. Sika and the native roe deer are regular garden visitors and are frequently seen walking the boundaries looking wistfully at the garden succulents, so please keep garden gates closed, especially at night ! Birds you may see in this area include golden eagle, osprey, peregrine falcon, heron, slavonian grebe, curlew, crossbills, woodcock, goosander, goldeneye, buzzard and many, many more. A half hours drive will take you to the Moray Firth to see the most northerly pod of bottlenose dolphins in Britain. Our Canine Companions We positively encourage you to bring your dogs on holiday with you - they so love places and spaces new. With forest trails and long beaches for walking, they will be in seventh heaven. We have 6 Labradors ourselves (5 black and 1 yellow) and know just what fun life can be for them here in the wide open spaces. With them in mind, we have written a special page. See "Woof Woof!" in the top left corner on any pet friendly cottage page. See you soon. Corinne & Gordon.

Copyright All rights, including copyright and database right, in Wilderness Cottages website and its contents, are owned by or licensed to Wilderness Cottages, or otherwise used by the Wilderness Cottages as permitted by applicable law. In accessing the Wilderness Cottages's webpages, you agree that you will access the contents solely for your own private use but not for any commercial or public use. You can download and use the service on a single CPU at a time and you can print out a single hard copy of any part of the content on the Wilderness Cottages's website for your personal use. Except as permitted above, you undertake not to copy, store in any medium (including in any other website), distribute, transmit, re-transmit, broadcast, modify, or show in public any part of the Wilderness Cottages's website without the prior written permission of Wilderness Cottages or in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All cottage images within the site are © Rosemary Holt 2003 unless otherwise stated.