Isle of Skye hotel-restaurant that's put Scottish cuisine on the map
Three Chimneys and The House Over-By, on an island in Scotland's remote northwest with some fabulous hiking on the doorstep, is one of Britain's best restaurants. James Porteous explains what the fuss is about
Don't worry. The Three Chimneys is one of the more remote top-class restaurant-hotels, down a single-track road alongside a beautiful loch on a peninsula on Skye, an island off Scotland's northwest coast. It's a five-to-six-hour drive from Glasgow or Edinburgh. With an area nearly 50 per cent larger than that of Hong Kong, but a population of just 10,000, Skye is one of the world's most beautifully empty places, dominated by the jagged peaks of the Cuillin mountain range and vast expanses of moorland.
Er, no. The Three Chimneys has gained a worldwide reputation as one of the best restaurants in Britain - and Skye is one of Scotland's most popular tourist destinations. Book months in advance.
Primarily a restaurant. Owners Shirley and Eddie Spear opened a boutique hotel next door, called The House Over-By, in 1999, with six beautifully decorated luxury suites. Looking out over Loch Dunvegan (where much of the restaurant's seafood is caught), you can see clear across to the Isle of Harris, on the Outer Hebrides, on clear days (sometimes rare with Skye's comically changeable weather). A room that is no more than stumbling distance from the restaurant certainly helps make the well-curated wine flight an attractive option with dinner.
The Spears fell in love with the place and moved from London with their family when what was then a small tearoom in a 19th-century croft house came on the market, in 1984 (a croft is a subsistence farm, once the typical way of life in Scotland's highlands and islands). "I was very concerned about Scotland's poor reputation for good food, knowing that there was no restaurant scene to speak of, generally, but that good cooking happened in people's homes mostly by women cooks, not professional chefs," says Shirley Spear. "Scotland has an amazing culinary heritage and this seemed to have been all but forgotten. It seemed that no one took any pride in Scottish food and drink, our traditional recipes and cooking methods. I wanted to change that, but also wanted a building that would reflect the historic side of Scottish life."
