about your hosts
Hello. I'm Antonia; I run the holiday accommodation rental business - Moniack Lodges - with my husband, Richard. We have two, cosy waterside self-catering lodges with woodland gardens just a few fields away from our home in the countryside, near Beauly, Inverness.
We're lovers of food, travel, long walks in the countryside - through forests and across moorland - and never happier than when outdoors and with our family and dogs. I love the trails, forests and moors, walking and running along them with our dogs - a Hungarian wirehaired vizsla, called Jyn, and a wirehaired pointer named Truda - and we both like to paddle our canoe on our local lochs whenever we get the chance.
We both enjoy gardening - Richard grows vegetables using the no-dig method and I look after the plants and shrubs whose blooms go into our chalets' welcome arrangements. We keep a small, free-ranging flock of hens, who provide great eggs for our home cooking and for chalet guests - the girls happily scratch around in our orchard, topping up with organic food as needed.
Richard is a keen cook who especially loves to try out new dishes and snaffle recipes from our travels and beyond. Wherever possible, we buy seasonal, organic and sustainable produce and support our local, small-scale producers - we're lucky to have an array of fantastic growers and makers of high-welfare and great quality produce in the Highlands, producing fabulous cheeses, preserves, charcuterie, whisky and more that can be found in small pantries, gift and farm shops.
We like to travel light and often like to stay in 'off-the-beaten-track' locations - we are both keen photographers (I'm more of a snapper really). Our love of photography and film processing began for us in our teens...we even met in a camera shop! We still dabble with wet darkroom processing and printing when we get the chance.
When we're not busy preparing for guests, we're bat watching - our other business is a bat consultancy and advice service...really interesting work, which brings lots of opportunities to record a variety of bats flitting by and to enjoy many a beautiful Highland sunrise and sunset.
We love welcoming visitors to Moniack and the Highlands; we feel really lucky to live where we do and enjoy sharing what we love about the Scottish Highlands, our favourite places to visit, best walks, views and eateries.
Why we chose Moniack...
Trees and forest trails... and the Scottish Highlands... the hills, beaches, lochs, wildlife, wild places. Apart from the nearby, well-known visitor attractions, such as Loch Ness, Glen Affric and Urquhart Castle, which are all family favourites, discovering hidden gems like Glen Strathfarrar, for peace and picnics, Farigaig forest walks on the south side of Loch Ness, with it's fabulous view point allowing a for a wee bit of Nessie spotting, and the narrow, less-often walked winding paths of Reelig Glen woodland is what I enjoy most of all; add to that the city of Inverness - Gateway to the Highlands: an ideal location for exploring the north of Scotland, its outstanding coast and countryside - and nearby Beauly village, which has all you need day to day, it's the perfect location - we were once holiday-makers here and loved it so much, we chose to make our family home here!
What makes this place unique?
This pretty glen, Reelig, and its forest walks, amongst some of the tallest trees in Britain, is what kept us coming back to this corner of the Scottish Highlands; a wildlife haven, where red squirrels and pine marten are regularly spotted. We love the smell of the woods, the changes in colour and light, the sound of Moniack burn running down from the gorge... fabulous! We're sure you will fall in love too...
Image: Out on the Moor ©Georgina Buchan
