A Green Weekend: Dolphins, Wolves and Whisky on the Dornoch Firth

Sean Connery loves it for the golf and Madonna loved it enough to get married there. But the Dornoch Firth coastline isn't celebrity central, it's part wilderness, part marine conservation area. Plus a wee dram is always welcome, particularly when it's made on the doorstep.

The thin line of communities up this quiet coastline north of Inverness, from Tain and Dornoch to Golspie and Helmsdale is often overlooked, except by golfers. Royal Dornoch is one of the world's best links courses - Tom Watson called it the best in the world - and since it's remarkably easy to get a round, then you too can be Tiger Woods for the day. With a suitable handicap, of course.

The dolphins at Cromarty are famous, vying for attention with gigantic cruise liners docking at Invergordon cheek by jowl with even bigger North Sea oil rigs in for service, but the hinterland is fascinating, its history the stuff of legend.

Dornoch is the county town of Sutherland, still infamous from the 'Highland

Clearances' of the 18th century, when farming populations, resident for centuries in some cases, were forcibly removed by the landowners to make way for sheep. Refugee camps sprung up along the coastline, Dornoch's is called 'Little Town' and parts of it remain to this day. More recently, a different kind of 'clearance' took place during the War - the entire population of the Tarbat peninsula was evacuated to allow soldiers to train in secret for D-Day, landing on what are now regarded a glorious beaches for relaxation, but were then held to be strikingly similar to Normandy.

How to get here
The area is a few miles north of Inverness and there are excellent flight connections from the south, EasyJet and Flybe have daily flights, but the green alternative is rail. The daytime service from London is a bit long at 11 hours, but the overnight sleeper leaves Euston nightly (except Saturdays) early enough (between 8 and 9) to have dinner in the buffet before retiring, to wake up while hurtling through the Cairngorm Mountains, breakfast in bed, a riot of colour, heather and forestry passing your window. You'll arrive in Inverness about 8am and simply cross platforms for the small connection up to Tain or Golspie which trundles along the coastline on its way up to Wick.

The sleeper is run by Scotrail: second class means you may have to share (bunk beds), first class you're on your own. Cabins have connecting doors for families and breakfast in the morning (brought to your door) is no longer mediocre, but a silver pot of tea, fresh juice, yoghurt and hot bap (bacon or vegetarian). Dinner in the buffet is cheap and wholesome, curries and chilli, haggis neeps and tatties, burgers and sandwiches. A fully stocked bar helps light sleepers have a more restful night!

The staff on the sleepers have always been bright and cheery, making for a delightful start to a holiday trip, a suitable antidote to the misery of workaday rail commuting. Cheapest fare is the 'bargain berth' which can start as low as £19, subject to availability.

OK. WE’RE HERE.

If you don't have a car, the coastline around Dornoch is serviced well enough by bus and train, with timetables available online here, or in print at the local tourist office. Mountain bikers should head for Britain's most northerly marked mountain routes, the Wildcat Trails at Golspie, or simply take to the quiet roads and mapped Forestry tracks for lighter exploring.

Madonna married Guy Ritchie up here (it was a quiet wedding), at Skibo Castle, which is no longer open to the public: you can only stay if you join the exclusive Carnegie Club, named after Andrew Carnegie, the former millionaire owner who made his fortune in American steel and who bought the place for his daughter. It costs rather a lot and there's currently a waiting list.
 
Nowadays, weddings are held at places like Dornoch Cathedral, a delightful church in the centre of town which boasts a warm welcome from Susan, the minister, a quite striking array of stained glass windows (including a modern one) and a spelling mistake on the board outside which says "Wisitors Welcome". Across the road is The Jail where cells which housed the criminals of old now hold stocks of high quality highland clothing and souvenirs. There's a charming little museum too, which tells the story of the Light Railway line - long since shunted off - and the last witch to be burned in Britain.

Dornoch is plain and simple, a place to walk and wander, where everybody says Good Morning to one another, even strangers, sprinkled with a few antique shops to serve the coaches of summer tourists and an excellent local bookshop. But as you wander around, the quiet is frequently broken by the sound of distant fighters. No, not brawlers from the pub, but Tornadoes from RAF Lossiemouth which roar across the sky, flying low before breaking the sound barrier out over the North Sea, as well as bombers from further afield practising on the Tain bombing range, the biggest air weapons range in Europe with bombs (up to 1000 lbs) used in target practice.

Welcome to the Highlands.

STAY WHERE?

As you approach Dornoch, a sleepy little town, there are two features towering above the low skyline, the Cathedral Spire and the adjacent 15th century tower, the Dornoch Castle Hotel, unquestionably the pride of the area.

Initially the Palace of the Bishop who built the original cathedral in the 13th century, it's been a jail (that didn't really work, the prisoners just jumped out the windows), courthouse, school, a home for The Sutherlands, a private home and then, finally, a hotel in 1947.

It's a haven of charm and quality, the 24 bedrooms divided between the castle building and an annex adjoining the large rear garden. Higher rooms have views all the way out to sea. The couple who've had the place for a decade now have been slowly transforming it, the guest areas have been upgraded, the restaurant (see below) is tip top not just for main meals but breakfast too - a treat with cooked local ingredients (haddock, kippers, Dornoch sausage) alongside fresh fruits and cereals - and a bar with open fire serving excellent pub lunches and snacks. Local mussels are grown wild in the Dornoch Firth, platters of local shellfish or cured meats are substantial, open sandwiches freshly made, and puddings for the sweet toothed are a delight.

Rooms vary in price and size, the showcase being the former Courtroom now resplendent with four poster, antique furniture and dark panelling. Special deals for this and other rooms can be found at the website, including a new range of weekend breaks with all inclusive prices.

The hotel is 'going green' too, at considerable expense. The owners have already seen the benefits of low energy light bulbs but are installing a Biomass Heating system for the entire supply of hot water, reducing carbon emissions by a staggering 77 tonnes per year. It's a pioneering German project, among the first of its kind in the UK. They have further plans for cleaner electricity from solar panels. Commercial bottled water has gone, replaced by filtered water in locally recyclable bottles.

There are great deals to be had and for once the full dinner bed and breakfast option is really worth going for as the restaurant is the best in town.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, 1, 2, 3….

(1) Wildlife
Pony trekking and horse riding across the heather, through forests and along the golden sandy beaches are available at Brora from Highlands Unbridled as well as at Alladale where landowner Paul Lister is determinedly stocking his estate with the wildlife of old, moose and boar to start, wolves and black bears to follow, a controversial scheme which has incurred local wrath by introducing fences across the open landscape.
 
Dolphins, seals and whales can be spotted off the coast but the best vantage point is at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth. At Cromarty itself, Ecoventures will take you out by boat for a closer view. From land, the lighthouse at Chanonry Point out beyond Fortrose is best.

A local guide to the delights of fishing, golfing, and hillwalking around Dornoch can be found here.

(2) Dunrobin Castle
In the 18th century, the brutalistic fervour with which the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland eagerly pursued the Highland Clearances is well documented. Their northern family seat is Dunrobin Castle, on the coast just north of Golspie, a Disneyesque cocktail of porticos and turrets, with construction and additions spanning three centuries, whose 146 rooms are largely open to the public, displaying an aggrandisement and wealth unique in the Highlands, an opulence more normally associated with the dynasties of Central Europe. Room after room of portraits, tapestry, Louis XV furniture and artefacts are quite breathtaking, backed by souvenirs and trophies from hunting, investments and philanthropy throughout Scotland, England and Africa. Not to mention a selection of lion skins and heads, ermine robes from the Lords and memorabilia from visiting royals. The castle is as perfect an illustration of what feudalism, colonialism and imperialism once meant and as such is fascinating to explore. The formal gardens are stunning, and it's here the falconry displays take place with the Sutherland's living collection of hawks, falcons, owls and eagles (where else have you actually stood beside a Golden Eagle?) are put through their paces, swooping over your head, soaring above the castle. I say 'living' because in the garden's Museum, there is a display of global shooting, hunting and taxidermy that goes beyond savage. Alligators standing to attention, a stuffed giraffe's head and neck, and more antlered skulls than you can shake a stick at. Plus buffalo, hundreds of birds, and a whole, stuffed whale.

Admission £8. The bus from Dornoch takes 20 minutes (£2.80) and while there isn't an actual stop, ask the driver nicely to drop you off at the Castle gate (where the Sutherland's Private Railway Station is sited). On the way back, the 20 minute coastal walk to Golspie is a delight and should not be missed.

(3) Whisky
There's always a dram to be had in the Highlands but around here there are three to savour. The world famous Glenmorangie is based at neighbouring Tain and has a visitor centre to explain how it's made, a little bit of history, and a shop to sell you the bottles readily available in your local supermarket.
More rarely, there’s Balblair, an award winning series of malts where, if you want to know what goes into it, read the distillery manager’s blog here. And Clynelish at Brora whose nose and finish are influenced by the sea, according to connoisseurs this gives it a marine aspect. Distillery visits are £5, details here.

LET’S DO LUNCH

Cheap
Harry Gow's Cafe on the High Street is clean, busy, plain and simple. It's where the people of Dornoch gather. The toasties, pies, salads, panini and so on fill a gap and don't cost much. Average spend for a cheap'n'cheerful lunch is less than £4.

Not so cheap
Pub lunches abound. The Eagle is good, but others are slightly disappointing. In good weather, picnic ingredients selected from John Grant’s (Spar) and eaten on the beach are a better alternative.

Decent
Luigi's Italian serves good pizza, lasagne etc and although the best recognized chef in town, Michael Carr, has closed his 2 Quail tiny wee (3 table) restaurant he’s now to be found cooking up at the Royal Dornoch Golf Clubhouse. The Sutherland House gets a good reputation but was closed during The Weekender’s visit. 

WHAT’S YOURS?

The environmentally sound option isn't the ubiquitous lager found the length and breadth of Scotland but the local beers and ales from the Black Isle Brewery, whose motto 'Save The Planet, Drink Organic' is enthusiastically adopted by fans throughout the region. Try hoppy ales such as Red Kite and Yellowhammer, or Blonde. For those who like a tipple earlier in the day there's Heather Honey Beer, apparently great at breakfast served with porridge.

DINNER IS SERVED

The best restaurant in Dornoch, indeed the whole area, is inside the Dornoch Castle Hotel.

Ingredients for the menu are locally sourced, and it starts as it means to go on - amuse bouche of miniature scotch (quail) eggs, tiny tarts of sharp cranberries with brie on top. No commercially bottled water, just their own supply, filtered on the premises.

The dishes are chosen seasonally, the table d'hote offering at least four choices in each course (including excellent vegetarian dishes which can't be described as 'alternatives'), plus the a la carte is generously marked with dishes that can be substituted. Hotel guests on a dinner, bed and breakfast deal can therefore have their pick of most of the menu for the set price plus the odd supplement here and there of 75p or a pound.

Cullen Skink is a simple dish to make at home, very often it's a thin (or even worse, claggy) mix of poor ingredients in restaurants. Here it's the real deal, local smoked haddock with new potatoes, leeks and stock finished with cream for a filling, tasty soup exactly as it should be. Another starter of locally caught scallops was plump and juicy, partly caramelised on the outside, soft, sweet and melting inside. There's plenty of local fish for mains, and a rack of Sutherland Lamb was done to perfection, pink, tasty and rested, four meaty chops, served with creamy mash and Savoy cabbage which was neither limpid nor boiled out, but served crunchy and tasting of, well, cabbage! Monkfish baked in black forest ham was substantial, delicious and meaty, just as it should be, and even the corn fed roasted chicken tasted yummy. Desserts are delicious too, from banana crème brulée, through rich bread and butter pudding to an indulgent Cranachan Cream.

Cheese is local, and the wines are economic and well sourced. A young rioja (Vina Amate Joven 2007) on a chilly night went down exceptionally well, served by the glass too.

The dining room is dark, and romantic, maroon with touches of suitably muted Sutherland tartan, murmuring rather than shouting. The young local staff are cheery, well trained and chat knowledgably about the menu and local affairs,

DRIVE BY

This is golf heaven, a third of the homes in town are owned by American golfers, and The Royal Dornoch is generally regarded to be in the world's top ten. It has two courses, the Championship (£82 per round summer weekdays, £92 weekends) and for lesser mortals the Struie Links Course (£35 per round summer, £20 winter). You require a handicap to play the Championship Course (Gentlemen 24, Ladies 39) but apart from that access is open to all.

Scotland is the home of golf, the very word 'links' stems from the old Scots language and is now used as a generic term for coastal courses where wind and sand play their part to destroy the well aimed shot. Dornoch is Scotland's third oldest course, only St Andrews and Leith date back further, with written records from 1616. It's also the home of Donald Ross, unknown outside the world of golf, but designer of some 900 American Golf Courses

All of Scotland's Links courses are open to the public but Dornoch is relatively quiet, being 50 miles from Britain's most northerly city (Inverness) which explains why despite being revered it has never hosted any of the major international championships. Other local courses can be found nearby at Ardgay, Brora, Golspie, Fortrose, Tain, Tarbat and Nairn.