Back in Edinburgh I’m dreaming of Plockton already. The wonderful clear light and picturesque reflections make it on of the prettiest villages in North West Scotland. It’s an artists and photographers dream, and they have been flocking to Plockton for as long as it has existed. Almost every Scottish artist has done at least one painting of Plockton, and you find photographs of its traditional white houses in most Scottish themed calendars.
There is something perfect about the scale of the houses, the water and boats in the bay, and the Crags behind. When the tide is high like this, near the full moon, and the wind is low, the reflections are wonderful. The whole bay becomes an artistic mirror, picking out highlights and shapes to throw more delight towards our eyes.
There’s a beer garden outside the Plockton Hotel with the most wonderful view. You can sit and watch the tide come in as you sip and relax. You can watch people busy in their boats, and playing in kayaks, dogs splashing in the sea and children fishing for crabs and tiny fish. As a child I sometimes used to row a little blue boat around these sheltered waters, and just watching the watery reflections in the bay brings back these memories.
My mother grew up in this village, and my Granny ran the two hotels, so I’ve been coming every year since I was a baby.
I wonder if you can see why I dream of Plockton when I’m not there?
breathofgreenair 
Wish I had one of those machines on Star Trek so I could just ‘beam’ in and out of places.
That would be wonderful, and make travel so much nicer 🙂
My list of places to visit would be quite long!
Lucky, lucky you! I didn’t realise that this was ‘home’ to you, Seonaid. It’s a place I’ve never been but have always wanted to visit. How could anyone not? My husband is not so fond of driving these days which makes it a remote possibility now. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
What a lovely place – I can see why you dream of it.
Thanks Suzanne…..I think I need a good dose of East Lothian beaches to shift my dreams closer to home again 🙂
I hope you get there this summer. It sounds like you are getting good weather in your part of the world.
Oh, I can very well see why you dream of this place, both for its own sake and because you have roots there. It looks really magic!
It’s a place with many layers of connection for me, and dreams can be so nourishing, and inspiring…..magical as you say 🙂
What a wonderful place to have family and to visit! Your photos reveal a very picturesque setting and I can see my sitting in a pub in complete contentment.
Watching the tide roll in or out of the bay is very soothing…
Seonachie….seonachie ar fheabhas 🙂
Tapachula leat…Liana 🙂
What a wonderful place. I would hope we all have a ‘Plockton’ in our lives; I know I do .. and hope to be visiting it shortly. Such beautiful photos … thanks Seonaid. D
I hope everyone has a place where nostalgia and beauty meet too 🙂
Where will you be going on your trip? I’ll look forward to the photos David.
Beauty and nostalgia are a powerful lure – no wonder you are plucked back to Plockton. Your images capture the allure in cerulean tones
That’s so true Laura, a potent mix indeed, and very hard to resist…..but there are so many places to see…..
I can’t believe I have never been. Must. Go. Soon. I’ll ask the boss 😉
Hey Kellie, you have some lovely regular holiday spots too…..and I keep meaning to visit them……there’s that gorgeous hotel on an island, which the boss keeps whisking you off to 😉
I’ve never heard of this place, but it’s so beautiful. 🙂 Love that white house right on the water’s edge.
It’s on the mainland of Wester Ross, just after the bridge across to Skye.
http://www.plockton.com
Not to be missed if you’re in the area 🙂
Just lovely…hopefully it does not rain when we get there!
I hope so too, I’m wishing for fair weather for you. So looking forward to meeting up 🙂
Not long now! Here it is rather cold and some rain – it looks the same in Edinburgh according to the forecast. Last summer was a fantastic one here, and so was our spring. Maybe that was the summer this year…
No it’s been a lovely day here….in fact it really hasn’t rained since I got back from Plockton last Monday….22 degrees this afternoon 🙂
Sounds wonderful! I will not trust my weather forecast anymore…
Wow wow wow – gorgeous blues!
The sea glows with some lovely shades of blue when the tide is high 🙂
What a wonderful post ! I am more relaxed just looking at it!
Well that’s wonderful, relaxation by proxy 🙂
Exactly! Big smile 😀
Your photography captures that special light so well. I remember it on the Coigach and the Summer Isles, which I know quite well and often go to in my dreams. The light in Cornwall is similar – but the skies in East Anglia (where I live now) cast an extraordinary quality of light for us. How lucky we are to be able to experience these things. 🙂
Those are great places to go to in your dreams….who knows we might up there some night. 🙂
I don’t know. East Anglia at all, but you certainly know what you’re talking about when it comes to light…..so it must be beautiful, if a little lacking in hills!
As you already know, one of my favourite places – very nicely captured.
Thank you, and I’m sure you have some lovely images of almost exactly this scene 🙂
The water looks so inviting, I can just imagine a young Seonaid paddling around in it!
Oh yes Gilly, we even used to go swimming. It was great to be young and not feel the cold 🙂
How beautiful. It really is the stuff of dreams.
Thanks, it’s a great escape 🙂
Damn, we’re going to go to Scotland before I get too old to move. You do this well 🙂 It’s been 53 years since I’ve been there. Thanks.
Wow, that’s quite a few years…..I think you might find that some things have changed for the best…..while others, like the wild scenery have remained beautiful 🙂
It’s such a peaceful and poetic scene. I’m in love with this place.
Beautiful photos, Seonaid. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Amy, that’s lovely to hear that you’ve fallen in love with Plockton through my images 🙂
I wish I could step into one of your images and enjoy the peace and wonder of the area. It looks so beautiful. 🙂
It really is tranquil and refreshing …..except of course when the wild wind sweeps in rain horizontally across the hills and water 🙂
Looks like such a tranquil place. Definitely a place to go to in order to charge one’s batteries.
Recharging the batteries and refuelling the imagination is precisely why I go back…..again and again 🙂
Great images in words and pictures of this place so special to you. It’s easy to see why you enjoy it.
Thank you, it’s such a lovely part of the world that it’s hard not to take good shots!
This is gorgeous, and I can for sure know why you think about it when you aren’t there. Lucky you that you have a history and visit regularly. 🙂
I know Judy, I feel very lucky 🙂
Oh, lovely… I have only been to Plockton once, and it poured with rain! I was so disappointed. One day I’ll return!
Oh dear, when it rains all the wonderful light and reflections are lost in the grey clouds 😦
When it’s wet, it’s very very wet, and when it’s sunny it’s glorious!
Well, I did get one image of a couple holding yellow umbrellas in the distance, which wasn’t great as I snatched the shot with only a 50mm lens… I’ll post it if I can find it!
Oh how idyllic! Peaceful and stunning! How far is Plockton from where you live? I remember Edinburgh as being quite busy and it has been a number of years since I was there, so I see why you love Plockton. However, all of the pictures you take from around your home are quiet, peaceful, and restful too. You do take fabulous pictures.
Plockton is a couple of hundred miles north and west of Edinburgh Gwynn. It’s around a 4.5 hour drive, as the roads get narrower and narrower the further north you go!
I live about 6 miles South East of Edinburgh in the lush green rolling fields and woods of Midlothian, and we are lucky to have a fairly big garden to enjoy. It’s peaceful and green, but it lacks the drama of the mountains and sea lochs of Plockton, Lochalsh and Skye!