Latest news with #WildLuing
The Sun
13 hours ago
- The Sun
The pretty UK island with African-inspired holiday lodges – and you can spot otters and seals from your bed
A TINY island in the UK is home to holiday lodges were inspired by safari camps abroad. WildLuing on the Scottish island of Luing was created by Jack and his wife Emily after they were inspired while living in Kenya. 5 5 WildLuing has eight self-catered glamping suites, called WildSuites, that overlook Torsa Bay where you can regularly spot seals and otters. Something Jack and Emily said they liked about the Kenya lodges was that groups would gather for meals in a large communal space, then go back to their cabins. Each pod is custom built and there are some where you can bring along a furry friend too. And inside each of the lodges is a super king bed, which can be split into doubles if necessary, as well as a shower - and some even have a roll top bath. Cleverly, all of the cabins are positioned differently so no matter which you stay in, you will get views of the bay. Prices for the cabins start from £195 per night and each sleeps two. Unlike most other campsites, there's no shops or pubs, it's all about getting back to nature. As a result, on-site is a communal lounge and dining room. And it's a hit with visitors having been described as 'bucket list material.' The biggest place on-site is The Observatory which hosts up to 20 guests. Scotland's Cheapest & Most Expensive Coastal Towns 5 5 It has views over Torsa Bay and is completely open-plan with a kitchen, pantry, dining area and cosy living room. You can't actually stay overnight but it can be hired out to use for yoga retreats, cooking school, dining events, wild swimming groups, and wedding receptions, according to the website. Around the bay is various types of wildlife, and from the private deck you'll be able to spot otters as well as grey and common seals. For the lucky ones, you might even see dolphins. The Isle of Luing is one of the Slate Islands in the west of Argyll in Scotland and has a population of just 200 people. WildLuing launched three years ago, and has received lots of positive reviews from visitors. One wrote on Tripadvisor: "Wowsers. If you haven't been, then this should be bucket-list material." Another added: "Wild Luing was simply sensational on all fronts." To get to the Isle of Luing, you'll need to get a ferry from North Cuan. Here's the UK's highest campsite has cosy camping pods and views of the country's tallest mountain. And more campsites in the UK near water to with sea views and luxury cabins.
Times
23-05-2025
- Times
Blowing the cover on Scotland's secret island escape
Ever found somewhere so peaceful that it feels wrong to tell others about it? The Isle of Luing is exactly that sort of place. Chances are you've never even heard of it. Less than three minutes from the Isle of Seil, on one of Scotland's shortest ferry crossings, the island isn't even as famous as its cows. A hardy, handsome breed now found across the world, Luing cattle were originally bred on this 5.5-square-mile dot in the Firth of Lorn. The island is owned by the Cadzow family, who started breeding cattle here in 1947. Nearly 80 years on, with the slate quarry closed, the primary school mothballed after Covid and the population down to fewer than 200, Jack Cadzow is trying to bring more people to the island. If anyone's to blame for letting the secret out of the bag, it's Jack. While living in Kenya, Jack and his wife, Emily, were inspired by the set-up at the country's safari lodges, where groups would gather for meals in a large communal space, then sleep in separate pods. Over the winter of 2022 the couple created WildLuing, an island escape comprising eight luxury self-catering pods and a communal lounge and dining room — all with wonderful panoramic views over Torsa Bay. They've since added a wooden sauna, which opened last month; a pontoon will open any day now. Each pod is slightly different: some have a rolltop bath positioned so you can look out over the bay; ours (named Losal) has a wooden shower bench where you can wash with a view of the hills and listen to the deep lowing of Luing cows passing by. A bag of firewood has been left at the back door and the fridge is full of home cooking, including Luing beef lasagne, local pheasant in tarragon sauce, and crumble made with Luing apples. I visit during a gap between WildLuing's programme of yoga retreats, whisky tastings and pop-up feasts, so my son and I have the entire place to ourselves. Wandering about with only the black 'woolly bear' caterpillars in the long grasses and an occasional swooping swallow for company, it feels as though that three-minute ferry ride has delivered us through a portal into another season. Having left Leith hanging under a cold grey haar, I'm now peeling off my mohair scarf in Luing's warm glow, stopping to gawp at sleepy blue dragonflies soaking up the afternoon rays. I tiptoe one minute down the hillside, carefully dodging cowpats as I go, sliding into the bay for a seaweedy dip while my son piles shards of slate and crab shells into a tower. Later, the sunset is one of those knockout west coast ones — the sky reminds me of a pale bottle of 1980s Anaïs Anaïs perfume, then peach clouds gather into a deep corally blaze and a vertical rainbow pokes through. Next morning I borrow binoculars and fixate on the bay. According to our visitors' book, others have seen porpoises and seals out there. On my second coffee I get lucky and watch an otter doing slippery corkscrews in our watery front garden. There's a patient heron too — he'll still be in the same spot when we return hours later from our island walk. And what a walk it is. We pass a hand-painted honesty box with fresh eggs, then another labelled 'Luing Locker', selling baby cucumbers, jars of chutney and plastic-wrapped tiffin. The walk to the village of Cullipool takes about forty minutes, past banks of purple hydrangea, neatly stacked slate walls and a petite post office — the island's only shop — selling local beers, smoked cheese and Luing lamb chops. At the Atlantic Islands visitor centre we discover an upstairs library lined with titles on the Slate Islands, puffin spotting and Hebridean poetry. We pore over digital maps of the seabed, showing the underwater mountains and ridges that create the famous Corryvreckan whirlpool, in the narrow strait between Jura and Scarba, just south of Luing. It's a treasure trove of rare treats and unexpected finds — a lot like this magical island itself. Claire Sawers was a guest at WildLuing (one night self-catering for two from £195,
