The Blackhouses at Gearrannan, Lewis

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On our recent trip to the Outer Hebrides we visited the Blackhouse Village at Gearrannan on the west coast of Lewis.

 The Blackhouse Village consists of nine restored traditional thatched cottages. These houses were lived in till 1974 and were the last group of blackhouses to be inhabited in the Western Isles.

 In 1989 Urras nan Geàrrannan (Gearrannan Trust) was established to restore the houses. Over a decade later the project was complete and the restored Blackhouse village was opened by HRH Princess Anne.

 The Blackhouse Village is managed by Gearrannan Village Ltd and offers a wide range of services to both tourists and the local community. There are still four self-catering cottages, there is a Café, a museum (a blackhouse set in 1955), a resource centre and a small gift shop. The Blackhouse Village has a website which allows you to book one of the self-catering cottages online HERE.

 The Blackhouse were truly eco friendly. The double drystone walls, the low profile and the insulating thatch made the houses suitable for the Hebridean weather, and they were indeed eco-friendly houses in that all the building materials were natural and found locally.







All images taken on a Fujifilm X-Pro1 + Fujinon XF18mm f2
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