The idyllic ‘secret Highland escape’ of this Gavin and Stacey BAFTA winner actor

Gavin and Stacey star and co-creator Ruth Jones has been enjoying a peaceful retreat from showbusiness in Lochinver in the Highlands for over 10 years now.

The Welsh star, best known for her role as Nessa in Gavin and Stacey - one which she recently won a BAFTA for - has been splitting her time between her hometown of Cardiff and Lochinver.

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Ms Jones and her husband, TV producer David Peet, own the popular seafood restaurant, Peet’s, with customers often being served food and drinks by the star.

The couple bought the restaurant in 2014, a year after buying a holiday home in the idyllic spot on the west coast and Peet’s has become a popular place to visit by locals and visitors thanks to its menu of locally sourced produce.

Ms Jones and her husband fell in love with the area’s rugged beauty and bought a holiday home with stunning views of Mount Suilven in 2013. Despite being based in Cardiff, Ms Jones often visits the Highlands.

When the restaurant reopened after Covid restrictions, Ms Jones hosted an exclusive evening with Ruth Jones to talk about life, work and novels.

The actor released her fourth book this year, By Your Side, which tells the story of a Scottish woman called Linda Standish who works at the Unclaimed Heirs Unit tracking down family members of loved ones of those who die without a will. Ms Jones has said she’d be up for playing Linda if the book was adapted for screen.

In May Ms Jones won a BAFTA for the best female performance in a comedy category for playing Nessa in Gavin & Stacey: The Finale which she said was a "lovely way to say farewell to the show".

She told BBC Radio Sussex: "I was very shocked to have won. I took my shoes off and thought I was in for the night. I had to go up on stage barefoot.

"It was a lovely farewell."