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Highlands & Islands Developments

91K views 189 replies 46 participants last post by  FtoE 
#1 ·
Hello to my SSC friends north of the border. :wave: I know the Highlands aren't exactly Glasgow but where else could I post this? :sly:

I'm planning my 5th holiday to the Highlands in the summer after not having been since 2005. To be honest, I love it that much that I'd be happy revisiting a lot of the places I've been to in the past but I was wondering what some of your favourite places are. I think my fave place is Torridon for its beauty, plus you get less tourists there than the Fort William and Ullapool areas. But this time, seeing as I'll be going with at least one other person who has never been before I thought we should stay around Fort William so that most of the interesting areas are accessible.

So what do you think are the highlights of the Highlands? Pleasant villages, mountains, lochs, waterfalls or even roads - I'd be interested to know. ;)
 
#2 ·
I hope the weather will be good for you!:)

Oban is pretty popular, although I haven't been able to visit it yet myself. I really should try and do more hillwalking, its been too long. My absolute favorite mountain would have to be the Buachaille Etive Mor, its just sheer stunning.:happy:

And remember to pop by your favourite Scottish city;)
 
#7 ·
^^

I visited your villagelet back in 2003 and walked onto that tidal island in the second photo. :happy: It was around the time somebody in Plockton got savaged by a Highland cow. :(


I hope the weather will be good for you!:)
When I last visited Scotland we were sat up on Aonach Mor in the blazing sunshine and I got burnt! But when we went to the Glenfinnan Monument it thrashed it down. :|


And remember to pop by your favourite Scottish city;)
I've never actually stopped in Glasgow but it's always great viewing it from high up on the M8. I've made it clear in other threads on SSC that Glasgow is my favourite city in terms of how dense and massive it looks as you travel though and then over the Erskine Bridge looking back.


A82 through Glencoe up to that shithole Fort William then branch off to Skye. Quality. Then I'd blast up the Great North Road right up the the top, past Cape Wrath then head down to Inverness, down the Great Glen then cut across to the A9 and stot about the Cairgorms and Deeside for a while. Inverlochy Castle is nice but pricey to stay at.
I REALLY want to go to Cape Wrath but it's just too far! The furthest north I've been is Achmelvich, somewhere beyind Ullapool. I think Skye will be on the agenda for this next visit. :yes:


:eek:
Oban is a nice place to visit, and if you are driving via Glasgow/Loch Lomond, try a wee detour to Inverary and sample some Loch Fyne oysters en route.
I've been to Oban twice and I've never been all that keen on it. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's after all those miles of empty road and seeing nobody you suddenly come to a built-up area of ordinary houses and leisure centres. :lol:
 
#4 ·
A82 through Glencoe up to that shithole Fort William then branch off to Skye. Quality. Then I'd blast up the Great North Road right up the the top, past Cape Wrath then head down to Inverness, down the Great Glen then cut across to the A9 and stot about the Cairgorms and Deeside for a while. Inverlochy Castle is nice but pricey to stay at.
 
#9 ·
I've never actually stopped in Glasgow but it's always great viewing it from high up on the M8. I've made it clear in other threads on SSC that Glasgow is my favourite city in terms of how dense and massive it looks as you travel though and then over the Erskine Bridge looking back.
You are just trying to flatter us Butterfield;) But then I guess a Tower Block lover such as yourself wouldn't feel out of place here:yes:
 
#11 ·
Hi Butterfield.

I'd like to put in a good word for Perthshire. Kenmore, Aberfeldy, Loch Tay, Dunkeld and the like. Its not really 'Highlands' in that its not wild and remote but maybe has a feel a bit like a quieter version of the Lake District. There are loads of beautiful lochs, interesting wee towns, multitudes of climbable hills and there's sufficient population to support activities such as watersports, golf, falconry, mountain biking etc but sufficiently few people that it all feels very rural. After Torridon (where you went last year), Perthshire is my favourite bit of mainland Scotland (Arran, by lightyears, is my favourite place on the planet bar none).
 
#13 ·
I've just looked up those places you mentioned legs and they look lovely. If they were closer to where I live I'd be there like a flash but I think what really makes me want to drive the 400/500 miles is the mountains and coastline of the Highlands as we have nothing quite like that round here. ;)
 
#15 ·
Wow... Dunrobin doesn't half have a touch of Schloss Neuschwanstein.

I agree about Arran being lovely, and it's half relevant to this thread, as the Highland Boundary Fault runs right down the middle of it. This is what makes the topograph of the island a sort of 'Scotland in miniature'. I went camping there a couple years ago with my brother, at the Glen Rosa campsite. We did a very enjoyable walk up Goatfell, and then rather too long an evening in the pubs at Brodick (which actually aren't quite as good as they should be... couldn't even find one that had the lovely Arran Ale on tap).
 
#21 ·
Nice photos. :) I've been to Luss each time I've been on the way to the Fort William area as it's a nice place to stop off at after Glasgow. It's nice for a stroll around the village and down to the shore of Loch Lomond - although there were clouds of midges on the beach last time I went! I always think of Luss as the gateway to the Highlands as it's where you first start to see mountains, even if they aren't quite officially in the Highlands. ;)
 
#23 ·
Some more planning controversy up north:

Dubai ruler gets go-ahead for lavish Highlands lodge
Councillors reject planners' advice that proposed 16-bedroom building overlooking Loch Duich would be an eyesore

The billionaire ruler of Dubai has been given permission to build a new 16-bedroom holiday home in the Highlands after councillors rejected official advice that the proposed design was an eyesore best suited to a business park... continues here
Seems again its politics before planning.
 
#24 ·
Huh, first I'd heard of this. Anyone know who the architects are?

Some friends of mine have worked for him, doing cleaning and housework etc. They get paid a fortune for it. To the extent that their boyfriends jokingly question them about what it is that they do...
 
#27 ·
I'll probably upset ****** with this comment, but every time I see something done by the New Urbanists, I always think that I'd be able to take them so much more seriously if they stopped denying the presence of the last 100 years. From Architecture Scotland:

Tornagrain born again
16 Jan 2009



A planned new town at Tornagrain near Inverness could welcome some 5,000 new homes, five schools and parkland to cater for the expansion of Europe's fastest growing city.

Located on the A96 corridor close to the airport between Inverness and Nairn the town enjoys excellent transport links.

The vision is being financed by Moray Estates with planning consultant Andres Duany taking the design helm.

Duany advocates a return to traditional town planning, moving away from sprawling suburbs with few facilities. As such the town will be built to a high density with a walkable environment and plentiful shops and services.

Highland Council are in receipt of a planning application for the site which, if approved, could see construction commence in 2013.
Tornagrain Website.
 
#28 ·
And, argh, I'm actually kind of angry about this. It is possible to design in such a way that takes account of the local vernacular and traditions in buildings, without slavishly pretending to emulate it. Here's a project in Plockton for Skye & Lochalsh Housing Association—why is it that Housing Associations are doing the best building in Scotland over the last few years?—due to start construction any day now:



And another couple of buildings in the same village, by the same architect, for the same client. Completed last year:





And sadly delayed until 2010, but if the Highland Housing Fair/Scottish Housing Expo ever goes ahead, I'll be very happy:







...but no, we have to put up with the Duany Plater-Zyberk shite.
 
#29 ·
astragal a-go-go!
Cadell2 seem to manage rural settlment plans as well without resorting to new urbanist aesthetic (I know, I know there is no set aesthetic, it's just a coincidence that its always pastche). To be fair, the timber clad crescent with a copper roof proposed could be interesting.....
 
#30 ·
Groan.... ok I know I'm rising to the bait but I jeez I just can't help myself.

We've spoken about this before maccoinnich and you know my opinion on the matter i.e. that collectively the New Urbanists really need to do some decent PR in the UK.

Coming over here and preaching about the 64 things UK architects gets wrong in building new developments ain't gonna help cause it looks so holier than thou and gets peoples backs up.

New Urbanism is, officially, style neutral however it is a broad church and one that is still debating the issue of style with some quite vocal pro and anti camps. However just as many, like me, see style as a total red herring that architects get themselves totally wrapped up in when it is the urbanism that should come first.

The New Urbanists problem is that all one ever sees of it in the UK is either images from the Truman show, half of which was a Hollywood stage set, selective highlights of Seaside that helpfully miss out any building that isn't vaguely classical, and Kentlands in Maryland. Consequently UK architects get a very stereotyped view of it from the architectural media. But... the style of a New Urbanist community can and does vary. It's just seems to be easier for Londoncentric journalists to keep lazily peddling these stereotypes as presumably it suits their agenda.

If they bothered to look a bit further they might realise that the Truman Show image is not the whole story.

For instance the design code for Kentlands came about through discussions with a largely conservative community in the surrounding hinterland hence the style or language they opted for there. That is their choice.

However if one were to go west (pardon pun) one would find that tastes change and people can be, and are, more adventerous.

Check out this new town near Denver called Prospect which was masterplanned by Duany Plater-Zyberk and had a more contemporary design code because that's what the locals wanted.

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2008/nu/prospect/

OK the individual buildings can be hit and miss but is it not significantly better than your typical developer led suburban development here with minimal architect involvement? Additionally many of the lots and houses within this new town were specifically designed for their owners and the comissions went to a pool of young architects. What a better way to get a break and a leg up for up and coming talent? Is anyone aware of any UK developers who would be quite so adventerous? Who gets the better deal at the end of the day? Our approach or this? So why is it that the architectural press in the UK can't report on stuff like this?

And...Duany Plater-Zyberk don't design buildings. They do masterplans not architecture!!!

Finally having had the pleasure of working with both Caddell2 and DPZ I'd chose DPZ any day as they are a lot more fun.
 
#32 ·
However just as many, like me, see style as a total red herring that architects get themselves totally wrapped up in when it is the urbanism that should come first.
And just to take this way off topic, but for what it's worth, I don't disagree. I'm vaguely considering moving to Portland, Oregon, and I've spent far too much time recently reading and reminiscing about it online. It's a wonderful city, and that's in large part due to the quality of the planning. They have an expanding regional light rail system, and dense bus network. The blocks are a short 200'x200'. New developments in downtown, or large apartment blocks anywhere, are required to have ground floor retail. Much of the city is specifically zoned to encourage mixed use development. Their farmer's market runs three days a week at different locations. They haven't had an 'iconic' building built since Michael Graves' Portland Public Service Building... and they're all the better for it.
 
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