A Self-built Cottage on a Remote Island

When photographer Colin McPherson fell in love with the Island of Easdale and decided that this was where he wanted to build his second home, it made perfect sense on a romantic level. For Easdale, the smallest permanently inhabited island of the Inner Hebrides, off Scotland’s west coast, has, according to Colin, “the best views in Scotland.” Yet, on a practical level, this Conservation-protected island of barely ten hectares – with a population of around 60 people – also has no vehicular access and only the teensiest landing bay, which can just about accommodate the ten-person Easdale ferry.

So in terms of straightforward pipe dream to reality building proposition, this perhaps didn’t look like the most promising of places. Yet a chance conversation led Colin to local builder Mike MacKenzie — and as a result, Colin now has his dream home, complete with views to die for, all for a remarkable £62,000 (including land). And Easdale Island now has an extremely handsome modern vernacular cottage to add to its already considerable charm.

Colin takes up the story: “We were on holiday on the island and we got chatting to Mike, and found out that he was planning to build a terrace of three cottages on the island. Mike wanted to sell one cottage to finance the building of all three, and mentioned that it had a fixed price of £62,000 — so we said, ‘Yes please!’ We had our pick of the site, so we went for the one nearest the sea.”

Mike had previously bought the land on the island, and had also received planning permission to build the three cottages. This meant that much of the hard work had already been taken out of the initial building process. However, the actual construction itself was not such a bed of roses. “Building costs are 30-50% higher on the island than on the mainland because of the logistics involved,” explains Mike, who has enjoyed more than 25 years in the building trade. “There are 60 tonnes of material in each of these three houses and this was loaded once a week onto a 25- foot cargo boat by hand, and then unloaded by hand onto the island. Sand was shovelled onto the boat and again off the other side. There is only one ancient dumper truck on the island – from the bygone era of British technology – and with 180 tonnes of building material, it was no mean feat.”

In terms of construction, Colin’s house, ‘An Rubha’, is built using a bespoke timber frame kit with a dense concrete block and render finish. According to Mike, the Building Regulations stipulated 100mm blocks but 150mm blocks have been used for extra weatherproofing on this exposed site. “It took us – a team of 12 guys – about three months from digging the foundations to the couple moving in. Timber frame allows this speed of building, and I’m also familiar with the terrain of the island, so it turned out to be an efficient process,” says Mike.

An Rubha on first sight looks like it’s been on the island for ever, as it seamlessly fits into the fabric of the island, which is characterised by a collection of stonebuilt quarry workers’ cottages. From the middle of the 17th century to the early 20th century, Easdale was one of the most important slate-quarrying centres in Scotland, and the local architecture reflects this. “I thought it was important to maintain the character of the village — which also has Conservation status,” continues Mike. “So, for example, I have set the reveals around the windows at around six inches deep (they are usually set to the face of the building in modern timber frame structures). The climate in Scotland favours setting the windows back into the building for a bit more protection against the elements, so we used six-inch blockwork on the outer face of the building to create that effect. It now looks more like a traditional Scots cottage, and it is this kind of detail that creates authenticity. We have also scaled up the proportions a wee bit to allow the possibility of creating an upper floor. That was a tricky exercise — to get the balance right. An Rubha is comparatively bigger than the other cottages on the island, but I think we got away with a bit of an optical illusion.”

Although the parameters were set for the design of the exterior of the house, the interior plan was not fixed. “Mike gave us the floorplan and asked us if there was anything we’d like to change,” explains Colin. “So we sat down and reworked the plans. The most important thing to us was a large bathroom, but we also wanted a big social hub — we didn’t need a separate kitchen and dining area, and opted for an open plan living/dining/cooking arrangement. Generally, it was a matter of getting our heads round the small spaces and how we could make the best of them,” explains Colin.

Essentially, An Rubha is a one-and-a-half storey cottage, which features a living, dining and kitchen area with a separate utility room and large bathroom on the ground level. A downstairs spare bedroom has now become Colin’s office. A bespoke pine staircase, handmade by Mike, leads to a further two bedrooms upstairs. The house is served by a septic tank, and as there is no mains gas on the island, the supply, including the central heating and storage radiators, is solely electric. “The whole house is very energy efficient, as it’s packed full of insulation,” says Colin. “In terms of the interior, we love the open plan living and dining area,” says Colin. “The last thing you want when you and your friends are sitting round the table after a meal is to listen to the dishwasher. So we have a utility room for the noisy stuff.”

A solid-fuel functional fireplace with facing slate sourced from the island also serves as a central feature in the living room. And many of the details and finishes were made by Mike himself, including the pine doors, “and the wonderful table, which is the real central hub of our house — it’s the most important thing in the whole building,” Colin says.

“We chose a periwinkle colour for the main living area as it’s warm but cooling. It contrasts well with my black and white photographs,” continues Colin. For continuity, pine flooring has been used throughout the house. “Since I hate big ledges, we went with smaller window ledges,” he explains. The windows are single glazed, but Colin claims that they have performed immaculately.

The kitchen has been kept simple, and was sourced from IKEA. “It’s such a small space that design is everything. The work surfaces were made by Mike’s joiner, and because of the nature of island life, you need to be able to store a lot of stuff, so this is why we have shelving going along the length of the room. We spent well in terms of electrical goods and saved time and money by doing things ourselves, such as staining the floors, painting and decorating.”

Colin’s pride and joy is the large bathroom. “There is a walk-in shower with enough room for a helicopter,” laughs Colin. “I was influenced by the time I spent in India, where they had central draining cores, so we incorporated this into the floor.” The floor also boasts an underfloor heating system and is finished in Easdale slate. To complement the slate floor the pine panelled walls have been whitewashed and varnished.

Of the two upstairs bedrooms, Colin has chosen to stay in the smaller one, which is simple and sparse, although the vibrant yellow colour brings it to life. “The bigger bedroom is influenced by an old auntie I had in the Highlands,” admits Colin. “I remember visiting her in the 1970s and ’80s and I wanted to recreate something of that experience here. I wanted a crofter-style room, but not fussy or full of knickknacks. The handmade doors with the wavy effect and the darker-stain pine creates the effect I was aiming for.”

Colin is delighted with the outcome of the design collaboration and indeed all other aspects of the house, which came in within time and budget. “I can’t think of anything I’d change; in fact, the only real problem was that, due to Building Regulations, we had to paint two layers of fireproofing material – which was like honey – onto the beams. We didn’t realise this until after the house was finished. It was a smelly, horrible job that should have been carried out whilst the house was being done.

“Mike wanted to turn our ideas into reality, so it was a great collaboration,” continues Colin. “When you’re in the situation that we were in, you have to trust people. If you don’t, then you don’t get anything as magical as this. I know it sounds naïve, as we didn’t know Mike that well, but having worked on something so intimate together, we’ve become best pals!”

Deep window reveals

A window reveal is the vertical section of wall between a window frame and the main wall surface of the building — or the side wall of a window opening. The deeper the reveal, the more protected the window. The environment on Easdale can be extremely harsh so the windows of the cottage have been set back from the exterior walls to give a reveal of six inches, in order to shelter the single-glazed windows from the elements.

On the downside, deep window reveals tend to leave a larger area of wall exposed which, without the correct measures, can lead to damp penetration. To minimise the risk of damp, waterproof render can be used over particularly dense masonry.

This house is available to rent; details can be found at easdaleisland.co.uk

Further reading:

• Four period cottages converted into one home
• A self-built wooden home on the Isle of Skye
• Designing a cottage-style house