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Ardhakillie
is sparsely furnished with antique furniture brought
from London. An admiralty chart and a set of framed
watercolours of Hebridean views from Sotheby's are hung
on the two-foot-thick walls.
There
is a small hall, diningkitchen and sitting-room downstairs
and, up under the roof, two bedrooms are lined in the
traditional tongue-and-groove boarding. The building
is painted "hopsack" inside - "the colour we use for
almost every room of every house we've owned. It's liveable
with, and fits every decorative scheme".
The
exterior is Snowcemmed white. At the end of the building
The Bath House has been built into the rock slope. Boasting
two three-kilowatt immersion heaters and two heated
towel rails, this is a treat after the meagre heating
on Scotasay. As well as electricity, the house also
has "the newfangled telephone".
Every essential from gumboots to basic
dry stores is kept at Ardhakillie. When they leave,
the couple make an inventory in their notebooks of what
needs replacing, so they can remember what to bring
on their next trip. A crofter neighbour acts as caretaker
in their absence.
Writer Gavin Maxwell once described Scalpay's
beauty as so great as to distinguish it even in the
long chain of which every individual island is a brilliant
jewel. Taylor agrees. As he hoists his own Hebridean
Society flag (lobster and fouled anchor) he says: "The
credits of living here far outweigh the debits. In the
Hebrides you can really see the sky and feel the weather.
In London it is merely wet or dry."
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