Restoration & history
Rescue from dilapidation
The Ice House was rescued and renovated by the owners, James and Janie, between 2020 and 2023. Janie, a native of the Black Isle, north of Inverness, spent her summer holidays in Wester Ross. James’s original connection traces back to his student days when he worked as a fisherman on the salmon nets at Laide for two Summers in the mid 1970s.
By then, the Ice House was no longer used for storing ice but served as a winter shelter for the salmon coble.
Ice collection and storage
The Ice House was built around 1870 to store ice taken in winter from Loch na beiste (Loch of the Beast). The ice preserved salmon caught by the Fishing Station during the Summer when transported by train to markets in Edinburgh and London. The opening of the railway in 1870 west of Inverness enabled netting stations like Laide to thrive.
Loch na beiste was reputed to have a fierce water kelpie and the landowner at the time, a Mr Banks, spent a lot of money in 1840 trying to kill the beast. Draining the loch with a two-horse pump failed so he imported lime from Skye to poison the beast. There is no evidence that Mr Banks succeeded.
Ice was transported by horse and cart from Loch na beiste to the Ice House and sent down a wooden chute into a hatch near what is now the front door.
Inspiration for the restoration
The inspiration was that of a simple Nordic coastal retreat, blending the simplicity of Scandi design with the local West Highland rural vernacular. It was key to retain the character and profile of the original Ice House.
Multi-award winning architects, Rural Design of Skye, are committed to progressive yet sensitive rural architecture. Their work fuses many influences ranging from raw West Highland agricultural vernacular through to Scandinavian Modernism.
The design embodies:
- a vivid sense of connection and continuity between inside and outside spaces,accentuated by the terrace raised over the boulder beach and accessed directly from the bedrooms
- an environmentally friendly home seamlessly integrated into both the land and seascape with the east-facing glass wall focused on and framing the stunning view of boulders, sea and mountains
- innate simplicity, practicality and informality sitting low in the land amid the cliff and boulder-strewn landscape while adeptly harnessing all available light and
- an intrinsic sense of warmth in an often challenging environment
Images of the restoration AND SALMON FISHING STATION history
