‘Hebridean housemates – Why our Bothan builders had to become lodgers’ by Annie Hayes writing for The Sunday Times February 6 2025

Building on a remote island is not easy when the journey takes days not hours and resources are scant. When Pi and Lynton Davidson, both 51, decided to build a home and business on the Isle of Jura, that invitation to tradespeople came with an extension to live with them during their part in the build.

There’s a certain magic to the old crofting community of Knockrome on the remote and wild Jura famed for its peaty whisky.  Just by venturing where few others do, travellers who make it here have a sense of curiosity for the wild and rugged and a thirst for the unknown.

The desire for this kind of lifestyle is not for everyone but it is for the Davidsons, two creative professionals who always sought a different way of living, re-connecting with nature and prioritising time to share all of that with their young children as they grow up.

With these principles in mind, the couple landed on the inner Hebridean island in 2017, having lived on neighbouring Islay for several years where Lynton had been working with Bruichladdich Distillery. A period of mental burnout for Lynton was the catalyst they needed to make the change.

The island, famed by George Orwell’s 1984, is dubbed one of Europe’s ‘last lost wildernesses’ – it’s the very antithesis of city dwelling. The west coast is entirely uninhabited. The 220 residents live dotted along the single road of its more sheltered east coast. It’s a romantic retreat for visitors who want to unplug, and an everyday reality for those that live and work there.

Just 30 miles long and seven miles wide, amenities are sparse – there is one shop, one school, one pub, one whisky and one gin distillery, and one road. The 6,000 deer outnumber the human population 30 to 1, propelling it into a close-knit community by necessity.

When the couple stumbled upon a 200-year-old stone, cotter’s cottage lost to a bog, a vision began to emerge. It had originally been part of the Tarbert Estate belonging to the Astor family. The process of getting a resumption order to make the cottage and land private property took nearly two years. Pi, a graphic designer, has always had a flair for seeing beyond the unfinished but taking on this project, which aimed to negate the need for an architect wherever possible, needed the bravest of creative souls to dig deeply into the imagination of ‘what if’.

Undeterred they put down the £43,000 required to buy it. Along with its restoration they planned to build a kit-house for themselves, three further self-catering huts and a large shed space with a library, music and boardgames from which to run occasional retreats. It was a leap of faith, and the irony not lost on them that in their vision to create a space for mental wellness they had taken on a vast amount of stress.

With a collapsing rusted, corrugated roof and grass and trees growing within it, the cottage had zero amenities and was not habitable for the young family. The family imported a ‘tiny house’ from the Netherlands which arrived on wheels. This provided a roof over their heads and, together with a caravan, enabled them to live on-site.

“We used local people wherever possible, but Jura is an especially tricky place to build given it’s an island off an island with limited trades.”  There’s a two ferry journey from Kennacraig on the mainland, with width restrictions on the ‘wee ferry’ from Islay to Jura. Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) were key to the speed of the build – these can be made in a factory, delivered flat-packed on a lorry and fitted together on site like a 3D jigsaw to create a wind and watertight structure in a very short space of time. The main house shell went up in ten days using a specialist company, JML, and the hut structures in just four. “It allowed us a way of fast-forwarding the initial stage when building was complex and the weather always challenging,” explains Pi.

Crucially for Jura, the air tightness of the SIPs construction improves the thermal efficiency and reduces the demand for space heating. With south facing windows to maximise solar gain, a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system to refresh the air continually from outside and an air source heat pump connected to underfloor heating throughout, it is designed to be as efficient as possible. The buildings barely need heating, even in winter. In 2021, the couple managed to move into their new house after 11 formidable months, but the rest of the project still had a long way to go.

“Many of the new workforce came via the Workaway platform, ‘Workaways’ are people looking for an experience as well as work and we certainly had that! The caravans and tiny house were now free, and we had work for almost every trade, whether for a few days or a few months. People helped with stonework, labouring, painting, building, plumbing and tree planting,” says Pi. “Our Welsh joiner Shaun lived with us for over a year. He hand-crafted kitchen units, sliding library ladders, bespoke shelving and we owe the beautiful finish of the huts to him.”

The pair tried to build as cost effectively as possible, but finances spiralled, “You can expect to add at least a third more than building on the mainland. Materials are more expensive, and transport is often extortionate. You need to feed and accommodate people and cover travel,” says Lynton.

“Naively we thought we could do it for £150,000, which is what we could put down at the start, but that was a pipe dream.  The biggest expense was the kit for the house – about £70,000. We raised money continually as we went along. The fact that it took so long has been a blessing. We’ve just done what we could, when we could, bit by bit, and are incredibly grateful to everyone who helped us at each stage. Build it, they will come!” says Lynton.

This year construction finally halted, and Bothan Jura Retreat saw its first visitors. Mrs Leonard’s Cottage, The Black Hut and The Rusty Hut all sleep two people. Each comes with a wood fired hot tub for guests and the cottage has a private sauna as well.   Visitors can look out over the turquoise seas of white Corran Sands to the south and, to the west, the sun goes down over the mountain range, The Paps of Jura. There’s cold water therapy on tap, with a 3C chilled ice whisky barrel on site and the crystal Hebridean waters at the bottom of the garden.

Reflecting on the build Pi says, “If we had known how hard building here was going to be, I don’t think we’d ever have started so I’m grateful for the blissful ignorance we had!  We were hopelessly out of our depth at times, but we kept on tenaciously and we’ve built five structures in the last five years since planning was granted, learning and making mistakes each time!”

“Four of our Workaways have stayed on to live and work here on Jura, testament to this island’s beauty as well as the welcoming attitude and warmth of the locals.  We thought using Workaways would solve a temporary problem, but in the end, it has been the unexpected joy of the whole build.  We’ve built not only our home, a business, but a wee community within a community.”

Prices start at £100 per night and can be booked through www.bothanjuraretreat.co.uk