You have to really want to get to the Isle of Jura in the Inner Hebrides on the west coast of Scotland. Even the ever-optimistic PR people admit that ‘there is no quick way to get there.’ The fastest way from London takes up a day and involves two planes and a ferry. George Orwell, who wrote 1984 here,described Jura fittingly as ‘an extremely un-getable place.’
Those who show up have always had a reason. Mostly it has been the lack of people (180 in total), the abundance of deer (3,000 or 5,000 depending on whose numbers you believe) or the quality of whisky. Jura’s single malts have been famous from 1810 on and whisky aficionados know all about its 10-year-old, 16-year-old and 21-year-old single malts, and JURA Superstition.
While all are perfectly good reasons, we are drawn to Jura by the Jura Lodge, opened in late 2006 in the old head distiller’s house next to the award-winning whisky distillery. Step into this magical lodge of five bedrooms and you are not quite sure if you should dress up as Marie Antoinette for the bath, as your Swedish uncle Sven-Olof for the sitting area, or for an upper-crust summering Hamptonian for the sleeping area. Whomever you decide to reside as, you will love the eclectic interiors of the Paris-based American multi-tasker Bambi Sloan.
She has managed to capture both the corniness and magnificence of the entire Isle with its Viking heritage, ever-present sea, the silence and the deer. The overall feel is a strangely harmonious and comfortable mix of Nordic folklore and somewhat threadbare luxury. The rooms are large, like enormous, leisurely bathrooms with a bed and a sitting area. The details are exquisite, appropriate and often humorous. Achair made entirely of deer antlers. A typewriter (do you know what that is?) that uses real physical strength, not electrical power. White, lacy, crochet-edged drapery. The public areas include a music room for playing cards and taking a nap and a huge kitchen to share meals, cook together and swap stories.
Sloan says that she is horrified of ‘anonymous luxury hotels’ and instead defines luxury as a return to the simple pleasures in life, bathing while viewing the sea, eating locally caught seafood, hiking the moors. We must agree.
The lodge is for rent only as a whole from £1500 a week and £1000 for a long weekend (Fri — Mon). These fees mean that you either cook yourself or bring your own chef, but for a fee Jura can arrange for a chef, too. By Tuija Seipel
Recent posts
-
February 4, 2023
Into The Forest II – Jan Lenhardt
German-based photographer Jan Lenhardt often seeks nature as the subject of his work. In this piece, we’re again plunged into the depths of the forest,...
-
January 24, 2023
Modernized Georgian Colonial Farmhouse, East Hampton, Long Island – New York
When Jordan Carlyle and Mario Margelist tired of constant commuting – Marglist commuted from Switzerland to New York – and the hectic life of New...
-
December 7, 2022
Sculptural Water Slides by Splinterworks, Bath, UK
Water slides have finally grown up. Bath, United Kingdom-based Splinterworks is creating stunning grown-up water slides that resemble outdoor sculpture more than they resemble traditional...
-
November 24, 2022
Bass Coast Farmhouse, Victoria, Australia
The form is indisputably farm-like. So, do we care that the house is not on a farm, neither are the owners farmers? No we don’t,...
-
November 23, 2022
Aesthé, Marais, Paris, France
Aesthe is a Parisian aesthetic medical centre that is minimalist to the extreme yet it also exudes warm and inviting elegance. It is a fully...
-
November 23, 2022
Parrilla House, Armadale, Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne-based architecture firm Powell & Glenn has designed a stunning home for a couple and their three children with outdoor-living as one of the key...
-
November 21, 2022
Moos Bar & Café, Spaarndammerbuurt, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
With designers and architects tripping over themselves to interpret the latest, popular trends – often at the urging of their clients – it is easy...
-
November 14, 2022
Yuputira, Mariko Mori Residence, Miyako Island, Japan
Japanese multidisciplinary artist Mariko Mori (b. 1967) reminds us in many ways of another Japanese female multidisciplinary artist, the 93-year-old Yayoi Kusama. Both are eccentric...
-
November 2, 2022
Bermagui Beach House, New South Wales, Australia
There are places for which the only suitable description is “a place to breathe.” Over the years, we have featured quite a few of these...
-
October 25, 2022
Cases de Son Serra, Bunyola, Mallorca, Spain
Serendipity, good luck and a great deal of trust and courage were all needed to make this elegant restoration of a century-old traditional Mallorcan possessió or...
-
October 23, 2022
Jake Arnold Restoration Of A 1951 House, Beverly Hills, California, USA
It is not news to The Cool Hunter readers that we value tasteful restorations. We believe that new and flashy and complicated is easy. Restored...
-
October 6, 2022
Stone Soul House, Melbourne, Australia
Husband and wife, Kathryn Robson and Chris Rak, founders of the Melbourne-based Robson Rak architecture and interior design practice, have recently completed their most demanding...