Hello, I’m Angel Sedgwick, the owner of Eilean Sionnach. There’s a change of tack for this first message of 2023 because I made a visit to the island myself this January with my family and I wanted to share a bit of that experience with you.

It was our first visit since before the Pandemic and I’d really missed the feeling of anticipation I get every time I meet Gus the Skipper at the old pier in Isleornsay for the crossing to the island on the MV Paulita. We arrived on a clear and crisp morning but within hours a storm rolled in.

The weather in January in the Inner Hebrides is perhaps best described as “bracing”, and we certainly got the Scottish winter experience. The winds gusted up to 50 miles per hour, the waves rolled, and sea spray hit the side of the house.

My kids Cameron and Parker are seven and five respectively, and that little bit more capable and independent than last time we were on Sionnach. I was worried that they would complain about the weather or be bored. I had nothing to fear. They demonstrated, the way only children can, how much wonder and excitement can be found in nature, just exploring the rocks and the coastline.

After doing a lap of the island we would take our discovered treasures – by which I mean shells, sea glass and frankly pretty ordinary stones – back in to the living room for closer examination by the roaring log stove, with a hot chocolate for the kids and a wee hot toddy for Britta and me. In the evenings we played board games. The iPads never came out of luggage.

We were then joined by some friends who didn’t know each other when they arrived but certainly did after a couple of days of hill walking and nights of lively chat over a few glasses of wine or drams of whisky, accompanied by a cheese board and some exquisite Glenshiel chocolates from the welcome basket so carefully prepared by Dawn the housekeeper.

It really was a wonderful few days: relaxing yet invigorating. Eilean Sionnach is a stunningly beautiful place in all seasons and all weathers. I have been staying on the island for over thirty years and my love for it continues to grow. I hope yours does too.