John Taylor, Ardhakillie, Scalpay
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."
