Suisgill

River Helmsdale: Early Spring Fishing Availability

lucy — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:28:17 +0000

The River Helmsdale opens on 11th January 2013 and there will be 4 days’ free fishing from Friday 11th to Tuesday 15th January (excludes Sunday). You can register at the Helmsdale tackle shop, where there will be an Opening Day dram from the local Clynelish distillery – see http://www.helmsdalecompany.com/.

We also have some early spring fishing available in January and the beginning of February. The weeks available are:

Monday 21st – Saturday 26th January
Monday 28th January – Saturday 2nd February
Monday 4th – Saturday 9th Feburary

The fishing is for two rods and available by the week only. The cost for each week is £200 + VAT and does not include a ghillie or accommodation. For enquiries, please contact Lucy Reeves at lettings@suisgill.co.uk or on 01933 311500.

Accommodation in Helmsdale

There are lots of lovely places to stay in the village of Helmsdale, including hotels, B&Bs and holiday cottages. For more details, please visit http://www.helmsdale.org/accommodation.html.

The opening days are very popular so we suggest you book your accommodation ASAP.

Balvallioch Self-Catering Cottage Featured in The Scots Magazine

lucy — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:55:50 +0000

Suisgill Estate and Balvallioch, our self-catering holiday cottage, get a mention in this article about Kildonan gold in The Scots Magazine.

More information about panning for gold on the estate can be found on our gold panning page. For information about Balvallioch self-catering cottage, please click here.

Click on the images below to enlarge and read the article:

First Salmon of the Season Caught on a Suisgill Rod!

lucy — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:41:45 +0000

The 2012 salmon fishing season has got off to a flying start on the River Helmsdale and the first fish for the river was caught on a Suisgill rod! Well done to Michael Dudgeon who caught the 10lb springer on Beat 3 last Saturday, and also to local angler Pete McMillan who caught the second fish of the season (a 6.5 pounder) on the Helmsdale Association Water.

January and February Salmon Fishing Availability

lucy — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:41:59 +0000

We currently have two fishing weeks available at the start of next season on the River Helmsdale. These weeks are for up to two rods and are to be taken with Balvallioch, our cosy self-catering holiday cottage overlooking the river. The remaining dates we have available are:

w/c Monday 16th January 2012
w/c Monday 23rd January 2012

For enquiries, please contact Lucy Reeves at lettings@suisgill.co.uk or on 01933 311500.

Dog-Friendly Self Catering Cottages in Scotland

lucy — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:44:04 +0000

As dog owners ourselves, we have always been dog friendly at Suisgill and dogs are welcome at all of our self-catering holiday properties. However, it is surprising the number of people who get in touch to ask if we are pet friendly, having had real trouble finding any self catering holiday cottages in the Scottish Highlands that will accept pets. Often they have tried searching online for words like ”holiday cottage dogs allowed Scotland”, “holiday cottages dogs welcome Sutherland”, “dog friendly self catering holiday cottages in Scotland” or ”holiday cottage dogs allowed Scottish Highlands” and not had much joy. Often it will bring up big holiday cottage websites that claim to list cottages where dogs are accepted but when you click on the page you find that you are directed elsewhere. Another frequent problem we hear about is that people often have several dogs and they find a great cottage where “dogs are allowed” but then discover that they won’t accept more than one dog.

As people often stumble across us by accident and then find out that dogs are welcome, I would like to take the opportunity to shout from the roof tops that we accept pets! Our general policy is that we love dogs but also love responsible dog owners so, whilst we try to make you and your dogs as welcome as possible, we also ask you to bear in mind that Suisgill is a working estate where sheep roam freely and that we also let our properties to non-dog-owners, some of whom may be allergic to dog hair. For further guidance about staying at our self catering properties with dogs, please visit our Guidance for Dog Owners page.

Pot of Gold at Baile an Or

lucy — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:15:17 +0000

Not the best photo, granted, but I was rather tickled to see that the end of this rainbow fell in Kildonan Burn at Baile an Or, site of the Great Sutherland Gold Rush of 1869. I’m off to find my pot of gold!

Pot of Gold at Baile an Or

Watch Video of Rachel Sermanni’s Performance at Kildonan Church

steve — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:18:16 +0000

Feast your ears with this clip of the stunning performance that Rachel Sermanni gave in Kildonan Church back in August. The video was made by Timespan, who organised the concert. Enjoy!

Rachel Sermanni from Timespan on Vimeo.

New Suisgill Website

lucy — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:49:02 +0000

The new Suisgill website is finally going live, with lots of additional information about the estate, our properties and things to do and see in the area.

We hope you like it and would love to hear your thoughts. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please email Lucy at lettings@suisgill.co.uk.

Screenshot from New Website

Lamb Prices on the Increase at Lairg Sale

lucy — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:07:25 +0000

Despite two extremely harsh winters, record-breaking prices were obtained today at Lairg in the United Auctions first annual sale of North Country Cheviot lambs, bringing more than £750,000 to the local economy.

A total of 13,679 lambs were brought to the sale (with Suisgill bringing just under 500) and prices averaged out at £71.91 for ewe lambs and £58.55 for wether lambs, which meant an increase of £7.91 and £2.79 per head respectively compared to last year. We were extremely pleased with the results for Suisgill, with the price for the ewe lambs being up by between £9 and £20 on last year.

The top price for ewe lambs was £132 achieved by our neighbour Sandy Henderson from Achentoul Farms for his shepherd’s pack. Achentoul Farms was also the largest consignor with 979 lambs.

Suisgill Lambs with Shepherd David Henderson

Rachel Sermanni Performs at Kildonan Church

lucy — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:00:16 +0000

Rachel Sermanni

Up-and-coming songwriter Rachel Sermanni, who has recently supported Mumford & Sons, is to play a one-off acoustic gig in the beautiful and historic setting of Kildonan Church on 10th August at 7pm.

The event is organised by local museum Timespan and the Friends of Kildonan Church. Tickets cost £6 and there is a bus leaving from Timespan at 6.30pm which costs an additional £1. For more details, please click here.

The upcoming event has been reported in the Northern Times and on the BBC website.

To see an example of Rachel’s work, have a look at the video below: