We have put our lovely island on the market. It has been a difficult decision but it is the right one for Tanera and for our family, and we are looking forward to finding someone who will enjoy being here as we have.

Read more about our decision to sell here.

The BBC (among others) wrote about it; you can read more here: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-22418936

CKD Galbraith are the agents managing the sale; you can contact the Inverness office on 01463 224343 or inverness@ckdgalbraith.co.uk.

More news to follow!

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

We recently welcomed 18 Hebridean sheep from Achnahaird, belonging to Angus Macleod. They are on loan to us for the winter to undertake some much needed grazing. We brought them over one sunny Sunday on Patricia. Space was not a problem on this outward trip, but will they all fit back on Patricia in the Spring following a winter's happy grazing?!

Following the departure of our lone Highland steer last April we have been considering the best approach for grazing the species rich grassland at Ard-na-goine. Highlanders fit the bill extremely well, but transporting beasts of their size is not straightforward! We therefore decided to turn our focus to sheep, not least because the Island has excellent fencing infrastructure that remains from the Frampton era.

We had been very keen to have Hebridean sheep if possible and were delighted that the opportunity has arisen to have Angus' Hebrideans with us for a few months. Hebrideans are renowned 'conservation grazers' have being succesfully used in a variety of situations to graze fauna not normally touched by other sheep. More information about them can be found here; http://www.hebrideansheep.org.uk/conservation_grazing.html

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

Last month, just as the regular season was drawing to a close, we welcomed a group of 12 John Muir Trust members and 2 JMT staff members to Tanera for a five day work party. The opportunity to host the JMT work party came about through our involvement in the Coigach Assynt Living Landscapes Project (http://coigach-assynt.org/) of which both we and the JMT are members.

We were delighted to be blessed with an extremely experienced and hard working group able to turn their numerous hands to a great range of tasks, all undertaken with enthusiasm, care and diligence. We were also blessed with excellent weather, for the first three and a half days of the week. Thereafter the conditions proved very good for testing the newly installed path drainage systems!

A huge range of tasks were achieved by the group, including; restoration and improvement of a good section of the Island’s main path, considerable repair to the stonework at the head of Tigh-an-Quay Pier, thinning the birch woodland, upgrading an old fence line, removal of a considerable area of gorse and rubbish collection across the majority of the Island’s beaches.

The group were led by Sandy Maxwell, the JMT work party co-ordinator, with expert input from Chris Goodman, the JMT Path Officer. In addition Brian Wilson, an Ullapool based drystane dyker, lead on the stone dyking element at Tigh-an-Quay Pier. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone involved for their hard work and for providing us with such a memorable and enjoyable week.

We are delighted that dates have now been confirmed for a further work party in October 2013. If you’re interested more details can be found here: http://www.jmt.org/activities-conservation-work-parties.asp
 

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

After almost 16 years as a happy home and a productive enterprise for the Wilder family, the time has come for a change for Tanera Mòr. As had always been their intention, Bill and Jean passed the title of Tanera on to their three offspring - Jack, Harry and Lizzie - in 2010. Now that all three siblings have their own young families we have all been carefully considering the future, and have taken the decision to approach the community to discuss the possibility of a community buyout.

As this is a real opportunity for the local community to purchase Tanera, the family is keen to assist as much as possible in the process. To that end discussions have just been initiated with Coigach Community Development Company, and we have arranged a public meeting for Monday 1st October at 7pm in the Community Hall.

Everyone in the family is extremely attached to Tanera and we have had a fantastic few years running the island and living in Coigach, and hope very much to remain in this part of the world. This has not been an easy decision but we feel it is the right one for all the young Wilder and Williams families, and for Tanera.

We are continuing to plan for 2013 as a ‘normal’ season, with the usual array of residential courses, holiday lets and other goings on, and hope that it will all pass without too much disruption to our valued clientele. Thereafter we wait to see what the future holds.

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

On the evening of Thursday 31st May smoke was spotted billowing up from the far south western point of Tanera. Our worst fear had come true: a wild fire was burning on the Island, and would do so for the next 24 hours, eventually covering an area of approximately 150 acres. A hasty call to the emergency services led to the arrival of the Achiltibuie Fire & Rescue Service, promptly followed by their Ullapool and Lochinver colleagues, delivered to the scene by Lochinver's RNLI Lifeboat. The teams were almost successful in extinguishing the blaze but as darkness fell the decision weas taken to evacuate the crews leaving the Island's residents to keep watch, on top of the hill, overnight.

The scene the following morning was pretty horrific. The fire front had made considerable advances across the Island aided by the tinder dry conditions and unrelenting (although thankfully northerly) wind which literally fanned the flames. Friday saw in excess of 30 fire fighters on the Island coming from as far away as Ballantor on the East Coast. By the end of the day the fire was all but out and we were all but spent!

Its too early to tell the extent of the damage to the young trees but we hope the fire may have passed over quick enough for them to recover and come back into leaf next year.

We would like to express our huge gratitude to all those involved in fighting the blaze, be they retained fire crew, local Coigach residents or Island holiday makers. It was a fantastic team effort and were left humbled by their fantastic efforts. We don't know the cause of the fire, but believe it emanated from one of the beaches on the south coast. We would urge everyone enjoying the outdoors to be extra vigilant in these tinder dry times.

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

Today sees the launch of our 2012 stamp issue. To commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Edinburgh based artist Callum Innes has designed a beautiful set of six stamps. These are a personal reflection on the light, colour and mood of the area with which Callum is well acquainted following 20 years of holidaying in Achiltibuie.

We first met Callum back in April 2011 and thereafter discussions began about the possibility of him designing a set of stamps for the Summer Isles Post Office. Today sees the completion of that vision and we are delighted with the results and the relationship that we have established through the process.

Callum began exhibiting in the mid-to-late 1980's and has since emerged as one of the most significant abstract painters of his generation, achieving widespread recognition through major solo and group shows worldwide.

Innes was short-listed for the Turner and Jerwood Prizes in 1995, won the prestigious NatWest Prize for Painting in 1998, and in 2002 was awarded the Jerwood Prize for Painting. He has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally and his work is held in public collections worldwide.

Callum brought in Herman Lelie and Stefania Bonelli to lead on the design side of the issue and together they have helped craft a trully unique and distinctive issue of which we are all very proud. The whole operation has, as ever, been held together and expertly guided by Gerry Mickleburgh at the Bureau.

We would like to offer our heart felt thanks to this fantastic team, working from 4 corners (almost!) of the UK to produce this exciting new issue for 2012.

Read more about the stamp issue on our Post Office page.

Read more about Callum's work at: www.calluminnes.com.

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

It’s been a wet and windy start to 2012 up in the north west, but the news that we have been included in the latest edition of Peter Irvine's acclaimed guidebook 'Scotland the Best' has brightened us inwardly!

The book, which is republished every two years, is considered the definitive guide to Scotland. It lists the best of everything from Edinburgh bars to scenic drives to the best cafes and Islands! Pete came to visit Tanera's cafe last summer, and we're delighted that he chose to include a photo of Lizzie and Rich at the entrance to the café in the very select photo spread in the centre of the book.

We are in the ‘Magical Islands’ section alongside such colossus as Jura, Iona and St Kilda. A great accolade for wee Tanera Mór and an association which we hope will continue for many a year to come. Pete’s entry for Tanera concludes; “They also have their own summer Isles stamps (yes, they do!) Climb their hill, Meall Mór, or just chill. Theirs is truly an Island life.” We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
 

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

So. Here in the north west Highlands, here in this 'drowned landscape', we are having a November drought. It hasn't rained for two whole weeks. (Unless you count a few minutes on Sunday morning, and I don't.)

We've been doing a fair bit of work - looking for the leak in the Island's water system (excellent fun), collecting rubbish off the beaches (genuinely excellent fun) and dealing with the astonishing influx of bookings for next Autumn's knitting retreat (so much interest that we've had to make another week!)

But it would be heretical to let this weather pass and not go out and play in it. So that's what we did today. Just for the afternoon. And it was lovely. I put some photos up on our facebook page, but here's a taster:

I'll add some more photos of our spectacular beach-cleaning efforts shortly, when Rich's usefully enormous cousin sends them to me...

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

Gosh. I can’t believe we haven’t written a news story since May, and now it’s nearly November! It’s not as if there haven’t been many news-worthy happenings on the Island... but sometimes there’s not much time to write about it.

The leaves have now turned and the clocks have gone back; the season is most certainly over. But it’s been a happy one. I couldn’t cover it all just now, but here are a few of the highlights...

We had an astonishing spring: dry, sunny and warm. This miraculous spell of weather culminated in the wedding of our friends Isla and Pete on the Island. Many of their friends and family had travelled from New Zealand, so it was kind of the weather to show off the area at its loveliest. In all our months of planning we never dreamt we would be using our umbrellas to protect the Bride from sunstroke!

The luck was not to hold for the inaugural Coigach Coastal Rowing Regatta, however. Wild wet weather prevented the planned Sunday leisurely row over to Tanera from the mainland, but some brave boatmen (my dad and husband) ferried lots of brave boaters over to the Island for some well deserved hot grub and good banter in the cafe.

May also saw the arrival of the reprinted books by Frank Fraser Darling: ‘Island Years’ and ‘Island Farm’, together in one volume. This lovely edition has a foreword by Iain Stewart and an introduction by Frank’s son Alasdair, and various new photos of the time the pioneering naturalist and conservationist spent on Tanera Mòr, Priest Island and other islands in the 1930s and ‘40s. The books have sold well, and we have been privileged to be visited by various Fraser Darlings this summer: Alasdair with his daughter and grandson, and Alasdair’s half-brother Richard. They both gave us fascinating insights into what must have been an amazing and hard life here for Frank and his wife Bobby.

We had lots of happy residential courses this summer. Some have been going for a while – Eleanor White of Bridge House Art has been running a very successful course for 8 years now, no one knows how long Jane and Derry have been teaching us willow weaving, and the NorWest Sea Kayaking courses had a good 2nd year. We also added a few new ones; Kitty Jones ran another Bridge House Art course, Mandy Haggith facilitated a Creative Retreat, and Patricia and Rowena Birkett Jones tutored a Sketchbook course. We have had great feedback from participants of all the courses, about the standard of tuition, the accommodation and the food, which makes all the hard work very worthwhile. Have a look on our courses page for our many plans for next year!

Talking of hard work, we’ve had some great workers this summer. Our system of Working Holidays (‘Whols’ for short) has been a great success again, with pairs of people (or even families) running the cafe and post office for us in return for the use of a house. I won’t list all our wonderful Whols here – perhaps I should write a whole news story about them - but we feel extremely lucky to have such happy, helpful and competent helpers again this summer.

And of course there have been lots of lovely visitors – some for just a day, others for a week, or even three! It gives us so much pleasure to see families relaxing and unwinding as the days go by, and going away at the end of their holiday happy and refreshed. Lots of families have already booked for 2012, so don't delay if you would like to come and join the fun!

Well, that’s just a quick snapshot of our summer; I’ll try not to leave it too long until the next update from Tanera. Five months until visitors return ... but I’m sure we’ll find plenty to do in the meantime...

[You can read more about the Island and various happenings throughout the year in my Scottish Island Explorer magazine column; see the Tanera in the Press page.]

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website

Thursday 5th May saw the launch of 2011's stamp issue, a set of reproduced photos recording life on Tanera during Frank Fraser Darling's stay at Tigh-an-Quay in the late 1930's/early 1940's.
 
The title of the issue is taken from the well-loved and well-kent true story of life on the Summer Isles during the early years of World War II. The author, the distinguised naturalist-philosopher Sir Frank Fraser Darling, set up home at Tigh-an-Quay with his family in 1939 to breathe new life into the derelict surroundings that remained after the failure of the herring industry on Tanera.

Sir Frank believed that a single family unit was too small to exist in isolation, dependent only upon its own resources. He aspired to the view that groups of like minded pioneers could bring prosperity and produce leaders who could inspire and promote Gaelic culture which is the bedrock of crofting communities. Sir Frank left Tanera in 1943 at the behest of the Department of Agriculture to establish demonstration crofts and advise the crofters.

Alasdair Fraser Darling, the son of Sir Frank and Bobbie, remembers happy school holidays on the islands and has very kindly allowed us to use illustrations from the 1943 edition of 'Island Farm'. These were delicately mainpulated by photographic expert Nick Tonkin to create images suitable for high quality stamp production.

The book 'Island Farm' is currently being re-published by The Dovecote Press, in omnibus format together with one of Sir Frank's other books; 'Island Years', a story of life on various Scottish Islands, including Priest Island, another of the Summer Isles archipeligo. The books will be ready from 18th May, and can be ordered from Dovecote Press; for more information, see: 

http://dovecotepress.com/island-years-island-farm-1810-0.html

This feed was drawn from the Summer Isles website