Tour a charming island cottage which has been totally transformed into a secluded holiday home

A farming couple took the bull by the horns to transform The Studio cottage at Treshnish.

Carolyne and Somerset Charrington had been living and farming near Gatwick for about six years when they decided to move to Scotland to take on Treshnish Farm on the Isle of Mull.

The couple had first come across the farm in 1988. “When we walked up the track, we thought it would be amazing to live somewhere like this, and six years later we were here,” says Carolyne.

“It was a bit of a baptism of fire. Somerset had been working on an arable farm with cattle and this was predominantly a sheep farm.

"However, there was a lovely shepherd called Tommy who was due to retire when we took over, but he said he’d ‘see us in’, and he did. He showed Somerset the ropes and here we are 24 years later.”

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Over the intervening period, the farm has changed dramatically. “When we moved here, farming was the main business and the cottages were just an add-on but now I would say we’re a holiday cottage business on a farm.

"When we started we had six holiday cottages but four of them didn’t have electricity and none of them had inside toilets – really they were cottages for camping in.”

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The transformation of the cottages and their farming practice has been gradual but effective. “We did it slowly,” says Carolyne.

“We didn’t have the money to do it all in one go but it meant that we could do everything in an environmentally friendly way.

"We’re both very keen on conservation and encouraging the biodiversity of the land and in 2011 we won the UK RSPB Nature of Farming Award in recognition of our wildlife-friendly farming.”

Their positive attitude to the environment transferred to the cottage renovations – they joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme at silver level in 1999 and have now held gold status for 15 years.

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When the couple started work on the cottages, it made financial sense for them to live in one of the smaller ones – The Studio – and rent out the much larger farm house.

However, it wasn’t long before their plans changed. “The studio, which had been the farm dairy, was converted to have a kitchen and bathroom downstairs and a mezzanine bedroom upstairs, which was perfect for two.

"Just as we were submitting the plans we found out I was pregnant – which was fantastic, but it meant we had to amend the plans as the space wasn’t big enough for a baby as well.

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"Fortunately, next door to that corner of the steading was a massive byre. We decided to extend into the byre but for economic reasons we opted to make it one large room.

"When our daughter was three we realised it was time to live in the main house and we changed the byre space into a living room with two box beds in the wall.

“It’s an unconventional layout which can comfortably sleep four but can take six. However, it only has one traditional bedroom, which is the large downstairs one.

"There’s a separate shower room, a separate bathroom, a kitchen/diner with the mezzanine bedroom above and a sun room. It’s spacious, it’s not conventional, but it does seem to work.”

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The box beds are perhaps the quirkiest addition and are a hit with young guests. “Children love the box beds,” says Carolyne.

“We’ve fitted little lights in them so you can shut the curtains and read, and they’re full-size adult beds so they’re not claustrophobic either.”

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The mezzanine bedroom is accessed by a spiral staircase from the kitchen. “There are three doors that separate the mezzanine from the sitting room, so it feels like a proper, separate space.

"It’s very cosy with a coombed ceiling but it has a large window, so the ceiling doesn’t feel low and it’s private too – you can’t see the bed from the kitchen. It’s a cottage that works well for couples or families.”

The sun room off the kitchen is an added bonus for guests and a space that Carolyne recalls with fondness.

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“We built it when we were living here so it was designed for the two of us although it easily accommodates six people.

"It gets the sun from about ten in the morning until sunset, so it’s a great space and I loved it when we were living here.”

In keeping with the unconventional layout, when she came to furnish The Studio she opted to buck the trend for boutique hotel chic.

“I thought, ‘What have I got? What do I have already that I can use?’ We looked for things that would last, we don’t really pander to trends, we try and keep a traditional, contemporary and slightly quirky style, which I think suits the character of the cottages.”

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This approach has resulted in a house that is full of stories. “The sitting room has framed pieces of material that my grandfather, who was in the Gordon Highlanders in the 1890s, brought back from the Himalayas and other places he travelled to.

"There’s a large dress that I found in a drawer and I thought it was just going to get eaten by moths. It was too fragile to wear so I had it framed.

"It’s beautiful and most guests have never seen anything like it before. There are some quite beautiful pieces of framed silk and embroidery from Asia and there’s the tops of some boots that are embroidered, which again I think came from the Himalayas.”

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Bringing together this mix of old, new and recycled has taken time but it has resulted in a comfortable and quirky holiday cottage which fits perfectly in its eco-friendly environment.

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To book accommodation visit the website or Treshnish Cottages at Cool Stays.

Words Nichola Hunter