REFUGE FROM THE STORM

Two hundred years of Atlantic gales reduced this cottage to a wreck. Now, though, the gently restored Mull bolt-hole has a brighter outlook

- Malcolm Jack

DETAILS

What An old rough stone fisherman's cottage

Where Mull

Architect Harford-Cross Architects, Glasgow

For centuries the stone cottage Dun Guaidhre has stared out to sea from the rocky north coast of Mull. Built for a fisherman, probably, at a point unknown – it’s pre-19th century at least, and sits next to the remains of an ancient Iron Age hillfort or ‘dun’ – it has been many things to many different people in its lifetime.

Abandoned in the early 20th century, the building was left to rot. Sheep would shelter there, huddling against the Atlantic gales. Then, in the 1980s, it began to be nursed back to life, when a new concrete floor was poured, missing roof slates were replaced, and timber-framed windows were fitted. In the decades that followed, Dun Guaidhre was used as a bothy for walkers in this remote corner of the island. Seven or eight years ago, the owners, a local family with a long history on Mull, decided to upgrade it to a cosy and stylish retreat for more prolonged and comfortable periods of occupation. But this was to be done within strict limitations – and therein lies the beauty of this Scottish Design Award-nominated restoration. “We tried to take as light a touch as we could,” says architect Peter Harford-Cross, in what could practically be the project’s motto. He has spearheaded it together with his wife, fellow architect Rachel Harford-Cross.