Winter Wonderland at Seafield

Visitors often ask if there will be lots of snow at Christmas and usually my answer is ‘probably not’. Typical Argyll festive seasons have been wet, windy, mild and green but this year has proved the exception and we have a covering of snow and thick frost. It is stunningly beautiful and the monochrome snowy scenes of the day have given way to stunningly colourful sunsets. The one year that we could have provided the perfect Scottish white Christmas for our visitors, we decided to have a break and leave the cottages empty until New Year.

The weather is not without it’s challenges, with frozen water supplies and icy roads to contend with. Bundles of willow which should have been baskets by now are frozen in the soaking tank and will take days to thaw when the temperatures rise. Fortunately we have plenty of firewood to keep us warm and cosy in the house.

We continue to keep an eye on the beavers. Both families have built lodges and stored winter supplies of food underwater. Coming from Norway, the cold weather will not cause a problem for them. The tree felling activity has increased in recent months and hundreds of trees have now been felled and many will die through being flooded. While this may create habitats for some flora and fauna, it will undoubtedly displace others. If the damage to the woodland had been caused by humans, it would be called vandalism; because it is done by a wild creature, it is considered beneficial. With a landscape covered in Sitka Spruce, it is nonsense to laud the environmental benefits of opening up the canopy in tiny areas of scrubby woodland.

We wish all our visitors a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

Loch Linnhe & The Alternative Beaver Blog

Tuesday 23 June, a stunningly beautiful evening so off to Loch Linnhe for a spot of fishing. Lochgilphead Angling Club has rowing boats for hire for fly fishing on Loch Coille Bharr, Loch Linnhe and Loch Barnluasgan - available from Seafield Farm. Loch Linnhe is about 3 miles from Seafield but you could be a million miles from anywhere. It is a beautiful loch surrounded by woodland and forest; a heavenly spot. At the moment the water lilies are just coming into bloom and on the eastern arm of the loch there are smaller yellow water lilies. The surface of the loch was occasionally disturbed by skating sedge flies, a favourite food for trout but on this evening they floated undisturbed. Loch Linnhe is another one of the lochs chosen for the beaver introduction and two of them were swimming about. They seemed fairly oblivious to the boat as we rowed past. One of them swam to the bank and proceeded to gnaw very noisily on an ash branch. There was no sign of the other two but we hear that of the eleven beavers released, one has died, one has disappeared, one was in the canal and one is in the Fairy Isles. The official beaver blog is remarkably lacking in information and the information board in Barnluasgan asserts that they are all still where they were put.

About twenty swallows flew overhead and Daubenton bats swooped over the water picking off insects.

Stable Cottage is still available for one week from 3 - 10 July and Kirkland Lodge from 12 - 18 July. Visit our lovely area and discover that we have a lot more to offer than imported Norwegian beavers. They are supposed to be good for biodiversity but it would be hard to create more biodiversity than already exists here in Knapdale forest.

Holiday Cottages, Achnamara, Argyll

Here at Seafield Farm, we have three holiday cottages. Byre Cottage, Stable Cottage and Kirkland Lodge. It's a fantastic place - off the beaten track but only fifteen minutes from the nearest town. For anyone who wants to walk on empty forest roads, breathe fresh air and hear nothing but birdsong, then this is where you should be.

Our cottages are warm, welcoming and environmentally friendly with heating and hot water from our log fired boiler. The wood comes from the forests around us, a local sustainable source.

If you want to learn more about our cottages and check out the availability, have a look at www.seafieldfarmcottages.co.uk