BALNAKEIL HOUSE - A-Listed Highland Mansion on the Beach sleeping up to 17

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Overview

9 bedrooms

6 bathrooms

17 guests

Minimum stay varies

The minimum stay for this property changes depending on the dates selected

House Rental

Balnakeil House is an A-listed nine-bedroom highland mansion which sleeps up to 17. Now fully restored it has been sympathetically refurbished to provide a unique and luxurious experience. The setting is magical, all rooms have spectacular sea or mountain views. Step out the back door and onto the mile and a half long white sandy beach of Balnakeil Bay. Step into a timeless décor of earthy colours in sympathy with the surroundings, solid wooden furniture and heated slate floors, lovely muted plaids and tweeds from Anta. Enter to find the superbly equipped kitchen with an Aga at one end, and a stove at the other separated by a 4.5m long oak table, it makes the perfect spot to gather and socialise whilst preparing and enjoying meals. A games room with a pool table, board games, books, D...Balnakeil House is an A-listed nine-bedroom highland mansion which sleeps up to 17. Now fully restored it has been sympathetically refurbished to provide a unique and luxurious experience. The setting is magical, all rooms have spectacular sea or mountain views. Step out the back door and onto the mile and a half long white sandy beach of Balnakeil Bay. Step into a timeless décor of earthy colours in sympathy with the surroundings, solid wooden furniture and heated slate floors, lovely muted plaids and tweeds from Anta. Enter to find the superbly equipped kitchen with an Aga at one end, and a stove at the other separated by a 4.5m long oak table, it makes the perfect spot to gather and socialise whilst preparing and enjoying meals. A games room with a pool table, board games, books, DVDs, stove, a comfy sofa and a flat screen TV will keep the young at heart entertained, whilst those requiring quieter moments can rest in the sumptuous drawing room upstairs, with a fantastic view over the beach, before all joining up for dinner in the breathtaking dining room. The nine bedrooms are welcoming and exceptionally comfortable, with crisp white linen over memory foam mattresses. A maximum of two dogs are welcome. The property has a strict pet policy, please enquire on booking. The History of Balnakeil House It is believed that building of the original Balnakeil House was begun around 1642 and it was then rebuilt c. 1744 and extended a few times in the 1800's, but there is no known authoritative work documenting this. Balnakeil House was built by the Mackay chiefs as a family mansion on the site of an earlier building which had at one time been the summer palace of the medieval Bishops of Caithness. There is little by way of contemporary documentation on the building itself but plenty of stories about the place and its inhabitants. The first occupant of the rebuilt mansion, Donald, son of the third Lord Reay was, according to poet Rob Donn, "the apex of society and entertainment, of the men of poetry and of music". In 1740, the minister in the nearby manse, the Rev Murdo Macdonald, wrote in his diary that he couldn't concentrate on composing his Sunday sermons for all the merrymaking going on at the house on Saturday evenings! From the early 1800s Balnakeil was occupied by the sheep farm tenant, beginning with John Dunlop. The last occupants were the previous farm manager and his family, the Andersons. Balnakeil House has lain empty since 1992. Melness-based author Mary Beith has written: "By the end of the seventeenth century, the Reay Forest, including Glen Golly, had been subject to Sutherland's [sic] earliest and least publicised clearance when a chief of Mackay moved the people to Eddrachillis in the west to make way for what may well have been, ironically, both the Highland's first purpose-planned sporting estate and one of the last resorts of a truly indigenous luxury lifestyle. "At Balnakeil House in Durness, John, Lord of Mackay, held sway over what the historian Edward Cowan has called "an almost aggressively traditional household". When the then Lord Lovat visited John Mackay in 1669 there was hawking, hunting, sea fishing, archery, wrestling, feasting, music and dancing. Among other household retainers, Mackay had a piper, a harpist and an amadan (Gaelic: fool or jester). When he left, Lovat was showered with gifts a sheltie, guns, longbows, an antique sword, a pair of deerhounds, a silk plaid and a doublet and trews." In his book "The world of Rob Donn" (Edinburgh, 1979, although a new edition has now been issued) Ian Grimble wrote: "Second in magnificence to the seat of the chief at Tongue stood his mansion in the far west. This ancient manor farm had been inhabited by the second Lord Reay while Tongue House was being rebuilt, and it was used besides as a hunting lodge for expeditions to the Reay Forest, as a granary the chief's western estates, and as the residence of his heir. Like Tongue House it remains exactly as Rob Donn saw it, though it has also lost all its eighteenth century furnishings." According to Dr Grimble, Balnakeil was built by the second Lord Reay who was educated in Denmark while his father was fighting with his clan regiment in the Thirty Years' War, "and it may not be fanciful to see in its architecture the influence of the Danish manor-farm". Another story related by Ian Grimble tells how the wife of a Mackay chief, a Sutherland by birth, helped save Kenneth Sutherland, an army deserter who had fled to Durness during or shortly after the 1745 rebellion. A detachment of troops caught up with him at Balnakeil. "Whether by accident or design, Kenneth Sutherland did not choose one of the doors leading to the ground-floor premises when he bolted through the garden and across the court. He chose the entrance which took him to these narrow stairs. At the head of them can still be seen the

House Rules

Pet-friendlyKid friendlyNo smoking

Bathrooms

6 Full baths

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What this rental offers

Bathroom and laundry

Washer
Dryer
Towels provided

Entertainment

Television

Nearby

Countryside area

Living spaces

Highchair

Things to do

Fishing spots available

Location info

Kid friendly

Indoor amenities

Internet access

Kitchen and dining

Cooker
Grill
Microwave
Refrigerator
Dishwasher
Toaster

Wi-fi and internet

Wi-fi

Availability

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Sun

March 2025

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April 2025

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Map

Getting there

Inverness Airport

122.6 km

Restaurants

Smoo Cave Hotel

3.3 km

Cocoa Mountain

8 min

Sango Sands Oasis Restaurant and Bar

1.7 km

Attractions

Balnakeil Beach

0 min • Beaches

Durness Beach

1.8 km • Beaches

Smoo Cave

3.1 km • Caverns & Caves

Balnakeil Bay

12 min • Beaches

Activities nearby

Fishing spots available

Things to know

Check in / out timings

Check in after 4 pm • Check out by 10 am

Cancellation policy

About this property

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Property #HA22212257582

BALNAKEIL HOUSE - A-Listed Highland Mansion on the Beach sleeping up to 17 - Tripadvisor - Holiday Home in Durness