Beachcomber Cottage

Posted by admin on February 8th, 2009 filed in Community

March sees the television launch of  Beachcomber Cottage, filmed in Applecross.  It  is the latest in a long line of media visits to the area. 

It started in the ’50s with Laxdale Hall or Scotch on the Rocks as known in the USA.  It is a comedy telling the story of a remote Highland village where the inhabitants refuse to pay their Road Fund License as the only road to the village is in a very poor state of repair. It was filmed around the peninsula.

Director: John Eldridge
Starring: Ronald Squire, Kathleen Ryan, Raymond Huntley, Sebastian Shaw, Fulton Mackay, Prunella Scales, Andrew Keir, Roddy McMillan, Rikki Fulton, Archie Duncan, Ian MacNaughton 
It’s now a fabulous heritage document showing just how much the village has changed over the last 60 or so years. The Bealach road is extensively used in the filming and for those that think the journey over the top is treacherous, just take a look at what it used to be like!

The Avengers visited in the early 70′s.  Purdy and Steed chased monks around and then jumped off the pier at Milton and landed in the sea at Dornie more than 30 miles away!

Fulton Mackay was the next to film in Applecross in “Ill Fairs the Land”.   This dull film was based on the decline of the resident population of St Kilda and it’s eventual evacuation.  It was filmed in Lombain which at the time was a near deserted settlement about 7 miles north of the main villiage.  The only two residents at that time, Willie and Duncan, lived at opposing ends of the village.  Willie’s house was grand in comparison to Duncan’s residence which was an extremely old “black house” without plumbing, electric or even a stove.  Duncan lived there into his 90′s.

There have been several documentaries recently including the Time Team and Ray Mears. Their tight filming schedule didn’t allow for much interaction in the community, Although Mick Aston did pop in the following year to say hello.

  Monty Halls the presenter/star of Beachcomber Cottage seemed to fit in well during his 8 month stint at Sand beach.  I think Monty had a go at about everything from digging on the Broch during the community archaeology week, to a valiant effort in the local raft race and tossing a caber on Games day.  His enthusiasm was contagious and his “up for attitude” an inspiration. The book Beachcomber Cottage by Monty Halls is out now and the TV series starts 8pm on March 3rd on BBC2.  Definitely one to watch!

This is what the BBC have to say about the series:

Many of us dream of escaping our stressful and frenetic lives, and starting over. But can leaving it all behind ever be more than a dream?  In Beachcomber Cottage, former Royal Marine Monty Halls puts this popular wish to the test, by recreating the simple life of a crofter on the West Coast of Scotland.

A diary of his time in picturesque Sand Bay, Monty’s story takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from auspicious beginnings as he builds the cottage he’ll call home and he meets a rich cast of local characters, and into dark days when he yearns for the trappings of urban existence. Armed with little more than optimism and a basic knowledge of DIY, Monty lives off the land, raising sheep and pigs, growing his own vegetables and fishing in the burns.  It’s a survival story set against the most dramatic landscape in Europe – and proof that you don’t have to travel to the farthest reaches of the world to have a life-changing adventure.
A diary of his time in picturesque Sand Bay, Monty’s story takes readers on an extraordinary journey.

Monty has now moved on to his next project but has sent this message recently about the dolphins in the Moray Firth, Please help if you can.

HI all,
………a quick note about the London Marathon.

I’m doing it dressed as a large dolphin – as you do – to raise money for a reserve in the Moray Firth. The dolphin population in the estuary – one of the only resident pods of bottlenose dolphins in Britain – are coming under increased pressure from commercial development, and our government – in their unbounded wisdom – have just decided they’re going to allow oil surveying in the region. This goes against their establishment of the estuary as a Special Area of Conservation a few years ago, and is – quite frankly – not cricket.

The marathon will raise money for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society to lobby MP’s, take the matter to the European Court etc, and stop the seismic testing required for the oil surveying taking place.

I’ve got  a justgving page, so if you feel like donating a few bob to the campaign please click through. Please do feel free to pass the link on as well if you feel the overwhelming urge to do so.

Anyway, anything would be welcome. Feel free to leave a comment as well if you like.

Here’s the link.

http://www.justgiving.com/montyhalls

All the best

Ancestral Roots & Modern Living

Its basic theme is the not unfamiliar contention that the evolutionary pressures that moulded hominid evolution and enabled our success as a hunter-gatherer are maladaptive for 21st-century urban living.

Garden Studios Provide An Escape From the Pressures Of Modern Living

These structures are outfitted with facilities such as power supply, hydrotherapy, air conditioning, and many more to offer the best ambience for living in a home free from the pressures of modern living.

Sustainable Living-The vicious cycle

After Henry Ford invented the first mass-manufactured car and the first modern production line, he realised that both would be quite pointless if workers could not afford to buy his cars or have the free time to use them, … Effectively, the worldwide recession is the consequence of governments bowing to corporate pressure and ignoring the growing wealth gap. 

 Mail this post