Rothach is a beautiful village on the Sleat Peninsula, Isle of Skye. Rothach Bay seems to have been cut from the land by a giant ice-cream scoop, so the colourful cottages rise in tiers, as if no-one can bear to miss the view of the sea and mainland Scotland beyond.
Regular readers will know that I love writing about village life. I created Rothach village especially for the Skye Sisters trilogy, and I decided that although most of the cottages on the Isle of Skye are either natural stone or painted white, many of the villagers would choose to defy tradition and paint their homes in a rainbow of pastel colours.
Youngest sister Thea’s cottage, Thistledome (a pun on ‘this’ll do me’), is the soft pastel purple of an opening thistle. Middle sister Ezzie rents a cottage that’s painted Dawn Blush, which she considers a bit too tangerine – she would have chosen sage green if she’d owned the place. Maisie’s home is lemon yellow, and Fraser’s is no-nonsense white, because he thinks that’s the colour that Hebridean cottages should be. Valentina, the eldest sister, doesn’t live in Rothach for the entire trilogy but she buys Overlook Cottage on the Quays and restores it to its original blue.
Like any village, Rothach has its quirks. Thea lives in Loch View, though there is no loch to have a view of as the sea there is actually a sound (i.e. open at both ends, not just one). Chapel Road has no chapel, but the pub’s called the Jolly Abbot, so perhaps there was one there once. And maybe the abbot brewed beer, and that’s what made him so jolly?
On a headland above the village, in its own extensive grounds, stands grey-stone, turreted Rothach Hall, where Thea and Ezzie both work. It was restored by the wealthy Larsson family over a decade ago and is now a visitor attraction as well as their second home. It flies the flags of Sweden, Norway and Scotland, to reflect the Larsson family’s mixed heritage.
What it’s not easy to portray on my map is the steepness of the village and that, as well as the single-track roads, rocky outcrops and patches of scree fill the space between the cottages. The beach, too, is pebbly and gritty, but it’s the best place for rock pools or for paddling in the clear water on a sunny day.
Enjoy your visit to Rothach, an escape for each of the Skye Sisters.
Under a Summer Skye– Thea’s story
A Skye Full of Stars – Ezzie’s story
Over the Sea to Skye – Valentina’s story
