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The Story Behind Kentraw Farmhouse

Following our first visit to Islay in 2005 seeking some new whiskies for Hervey’s family restaurant, The Fisherman’s Retreat, in Lancashire, we fell in love with the island. We had picked a week in August and whilst they suffered with torrential rainfalls at home, we enjoyed four days of glorious sunshine. The island shone in all its glory, we met some wonderful people and sampled some fantastic whisky.

We fell in love with Islay

Sunset landscape on Islay The residents of Islay (known as the Ileach — pronounced ‘ee–lack’), were warm and welcoming and are rightfully very proud of their beautiful Isle, known as the Queen of the Hebrides. At the end of our short break we didn’t want to leave, but instead we settled on a vow to return in the not so distant future.

We made several trips to Islay over the following years and decided to look for a house on the island. In summer 2008 we saw Kentraw Farmhouse advertised for sale on the internet so we made the journey to view the property… and sample more whisky! Three days later we put in an offer in to purchase it. At the time of purchase the property was habitable but was unusual to look at and needed an extensive amount of work to create the house as it stands today. However, we could see the enormous potential and uniqueness this property offered and once it was ours we submitted planning permission to carry out extensions and full renovations.

The build…

b&b finished after renovation‘Project Kentraw’ officially started early in the summer of 2009. We were faced with a mammoth task to extend and fully renovate the property, and it was made all the more difficult when juggled with work commitments at home, not to mention the 330 mile commute and two hour ferry journey!!!

But with a lot of blood, sweat and tears — and plenty of help from a handful of skilled tradesmen, very good friends and alcohol — the work was completed by summer 2010. The house was transformed to what you see today!

During the development work we had various ideas about the future of the house. Always knowing we would not be able to relocate to Islay immediately, Susan’s mum, Geraldine, offered to relocate to the island and manage the Bed and Breakfast for us.

Geraldine had visited the island several times during our renovation work and was also captivated by the island’s charm and the warm and generous nature of its residents. Kentraw Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast offered a whole new lifestyle for Geraldine, where she could meet lots of new people and try her hand at growing vegetables and keeping chickens. This was the perfect solution and we are happy that our house and our future guests are in excellent hands… and hopefully there will soon be locally grown produce and free–range eggs on the menu!

The Finished Article

Read more about the different features of the b&b and view our image galleries on the Accommodation page