We stayed four nights at Pete and Lucy’s accommodation and believe we stayed at the absolute best place on the island.
It’s not five star, it’s not for people who need everything perfect and ‘just so’ – but if you’re like us and want an authentic, surprising and easy stay, then I recommend this wholeheartedly!
The house is 98 years old, and it’s on the most incredible piece of land right on the water – you could not ask for more. We arrived and lay down on a blanket on the lawn, bathing in the afternoon sun, as a seal rested about 50m away. We didn’t use the (nice) shower once – we had a star bath on the hill every night, such a treat, and what amazing memories we have. On the first night there were no clouds so we saw the whole milky way and hundreds of thousands of stars and even a comet!! The weather was around 18/19 degrees which was fine, but we put the open fire on each night, pulled a mattress beside it and had such lovely evenings together.
The house will be cold in areas in the winter, so rug up, but with the mixture of the baths and the open fire which cranks out the heat you can always get toasty.
Pete caught some snapper and delivered it in banana leaves for our breakfast – amazing!
As for the island – the fact that sums up our experience is that almost 50% of islanders live alone – this is a place that many people escape to, to get away from people! So despite there often being a lot of people on the island at any one time, it always feels deserted. You want to go there with someone you are happy to spend a lot of one-on-one time with as there aren’t many opportunities to interact with others, you need to make your own fun.
Interestingly, you definitely need to book in advance to eat dinner, we had great meals at the Currach and we wanted to go to Great Barrier Lodge but it was booked out. It’s worth noting that opening hours / days of cafes and restaurants are a bit all over the place, so it pays to bring some food with you too. The cooking facilities at Pete and Lucy’s are great – their wee cooker works so well I want one myself!
We spent our days relaxing and exploring all the far flung beaches – they are so beautiful and deserted you can easily go for skinny dips! Totally recommend doing that regardless of the season – you feel so amazing once you dive in! It’s a a bit of fun.
We loved it and had such quality time together, the pace is slow and there aren’t lots of tourist attractions so you need to be able to cruise and make most of wherever each day takes you. We considered scooters but were pleased we hired a car in the end as we travelled far.
We’re so glad we went, and SO happy we stayed with Pete and Lucy, can’t recommend enough. Thank you!