Summer 2022: Cromarty and the Factor’s House
The third, and final, leg of our Summer 2022 trip was the Black Isle which, confusingly, is neither black nor an island. It’s a peninsula on Scotland’s north-east coast and possibly got its name because until the late 18th century much of it was uncultivated black moor. Today it is very fertile farmland.
Our base for five nights was the Factor’s House in Cromarty, a former estate manager’s house beautifully renovated as a luxurious B&B. At nearly 200 years old it is one of the newer houses in the village! It is owned and run by the incomparable Fiona whom I nicknamed Superwoman, such was her boundless energy, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The breakfasts were amazing and we also had delicious dinners there on two of the evenings (dinner is only offered Monday-Thursday).
From the back garden we had beautiful views over the Cromarty Firth, including foundations for the world’s deepest tethered windfarm in the world being built at Port of Nigg (the yellow structures – 95m tall) and a variety of oilrigs awaiting repair or disposal. At first we found these disconcerting, but came to appreciate their beauty.
They had a special attraction at sunset.
We also enjoyed evening views at Cromarty Harbour a couple of times. On our first night, a Sunday, Fiona was not serving meals and there were no options to eat in the village other than a takeaway pizza. You can see John below devouring his with relish, though we certainly enjoyed more gourmet meals when Fiona was cooking.
There will be much more to come about Cromarty and the Black Isle. If I’m lucky I might get it finished before the anniversary of our visit (July) comes round! Stay tuned …
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
Such a nice place to stay and I must say I do like those Cometary harbour views , even with the yellow painted wind farm.
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We came to like the rigs and the wind farm. There can be beauty in industry (and they represented a lot of jobs too).
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Absolutely! X
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Anabel this was such an amazing site ..this harbor was very nice. Anita
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Thank you – I agree, a lovely little town.
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There’s ambiguity in the statement “You can see John below devouring his [pizza] with relish”. He could be eating with gusto, or there might be some kind of relish on his pizza.
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Very true! Definitely the gusto sense, he was relishing it.
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I knew that’s what you meant but I relished the chance to comment on language.
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I see what you did there! 😀
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Always liked visiting the Black Isle since the 1970s. Just back online after a two week fault.
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Welcome back! Isn’t IT the best? When it works …
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My auntie and uncle live on the Black Isle, so I used to visit a lot as a child. It’s such a beautiful part of Scotland – your photos of the sunsets are spectacular! Looking forward to reading more about your trip over the coming weeks.
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It certainly was beautiful. We had never been before – a bad oversight!
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That house looks gorgeous! How fun to stay there!
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It definitely was!
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Lovely B&B. The harbour is very nice. It is strange to have this ugly oil rig in the middle and at the same time it gives a great atmosphere to the place especially at sunset.
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It’s amazing how quickly we stopped thinking of them as ugly!
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That room looks downright luxurious! It would be interesting to see the finished wind turbines.
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It would, though they are going to be 27km out to sea so not too handy to pass!
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Oh! I didn’t realize they were to be moved elsewhere, but of course.
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Hi, Anabel – I always love (virtually) travelling with you, especially when you have such beautiful accommodations, wonderful sights and gorgeous sunsets!
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And it’s lovely to have you along (virtually)!
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Having someone cook for you is a real treat, I certainly enjoy it. Look at that big smile while munching on pizza and later on a glorious sunset to admire.
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Always a smile on his face where food is involved!
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How lovely, and what a beautiful home away from home you had. It sounds like you were completely spoiled. What a treat.
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We were indeed completely spoiled.
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Lovely sunset pictures. Your pictures of the oil rigs remind me of the times when we lived near Fort William and all of a sudden, good tradesmen became very hard to find as hard workers all left to go to the new oil rig business.
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One of our friends worked on the rigs for a while, despite having a PhD! Better money than academia.
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I’ve never been to Cromarty Firth. Looks a great recommend, Anabel.
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We hadn’t been either. Don’t know why we left it so long!
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Afternoon. I hope the windfarm will make a dent in the climate-change problem.
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I hope so too, we need all the dents we can get!
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This looks – and sounds fabulous. And those sunsets ….
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I know, gorgeous!
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That accommodation looks and sounds completely delightful. The sunsets are beautiful.
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Yes, it was all wonderful.
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Lovely set and I totally understand how challenging it can be to select & process pictures to then develop posts that are readable….good luck!
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Thanks! And there are always too many other things to do …
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Love the B&B. I suspect they wouldnt take the guinea pigs, though . 😦
The oil platforms have to be seen in the flesh to be appreciated in terms of their size. I remember one being floated out when I visited Alness in the 80s (work trip). It was quite a sight, even then. I bet they’re bigger now.
Jemima
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Possibly Topsy wouldn’t appreciate the guinea pigs invading her territory. We went on a boat trip later in the week and got much closer to some of the rigs. They are indeed huge.
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I’m not surprised you are behind with your holiday posts given how busy and active you are. So I think you deserve the “superwoman” label as well as the redoubtable Fiona 😉
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Well, thank you, that’s very kind!
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You certainly have a lot of energy, Anabel
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The Oil Rigs give the view a “different” kind of feeling. Excellent photograph of John, but I am curious to know what the bottle in front of him was. If it was a beer, I don’t recognise it. The Factor’s House looks like a great place to spend some time.
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It was beer but I can’t remember what. Probably one from the Black Isle or thereabouts because we try to support local businesses – and if that means lots of beer, so be it! It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.
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PS I’m informed that it was a Cromarty Brewing Company Kowabunga Pale Ale!
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Thank you for that :o)
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Sounds like a great B&B, Anabel!
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It was! One of the best, if not THE best, we’ve stayed in.
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Fab!
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That Airbnb looks fabulous, as does the weather you enjoyed! Also, that windfarm surprisingly doesn’t look too unsightly with its glowing yellow color. It’s rather artistic, I think! How nice that the Airbnb hostess made dinner options available, especially as she was a gourmet cook. 🙂
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Yes, we really got to appreciate the sculptural nature of the wind farm towers and oil rigs. And there was no getting away from them – they feature in many more photos which I’m sure will appear in future posts
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The B & B sounds lovely and your room looks so cosy. I like the sunsets and harbour views, and little Topsy looks so cute 🙂
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All true, Eunice – it was a fabulous place to stay all round.
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