Local Details

If you drive up the A836 road North, negotiating single track road (completed in 1828 by Thomas Telford) from Lairg onwards, you will eventually climb over the brow of a hill and be greeted with the spectacular view of the Kyle Of Tongue. Stable Studio is nestled in Tongue, which tumbles down the steep Brae and spreads out on the shores of the Kyle, a tidal inlet offering little shelter from the harsh North and West winds. Overlooking Tongue (Gaelic name Tunga) is Castle Varrich, a structure which is not actually a castle but could have been built by the Vikings as a lookout point or perhaps by the Clan Mackay as a stronghold in the 14th Century - historical evidence is scant. Dwarfing that though are Ben Loyal and Ben Hope. Ben Loyal is known as `Queen Of Scottish Mountains` and rises high above the village to five distinct peaks. Ben Hope is Scotland`s most Northerly Munro and rises on the Western horizon over Loch Hope and Loch Erribol.

A causeway, completed in 1971, stretches across the Kyle to the neighbouring settlement of Melness. Here is the beautiful Talmine Bay with its golden sandy cove typical of many of the beautiful beaches on the North coast. Further West across the windswept floe country are the settlements of Hope, and further on, Durness.

The Northern aspect of Tongue makes for harsh Winters - for an indication of how far North, climb a little way on one of the many hills above the village and you can look East to clearly view the Orkney Islands. Often lucky residents and visitors in Autumn and Winter are rewarded with spectacular displays of light in the sky from Aurora Borealis, or The Northern Lights. Bizarrely though Tongue also boasts the world`s most Northerly palm tree, just yards away from the Stable Studio in the garden of the local bank!