Colbost () is a scattered

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

on the B884 road, in the Glendale estate, overlooking Loch Dunvegan on the Scottish island of

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some o ...

. The two main attractions of this small settlement are

The Three Chimneys The Three Chimneys is a restaurant in Colbost, Isle of Skye, Scotland. While in operation beforehand, the restaurant came to prominence after being taken over around 1985 by Eddie and Shirley Spear. It has won over 30 major awards and in July 20 ...

restaurant and the Croft Museum.

Three Chimneys

The Three Chimneys is a five-star restaurant and hotel. On its annual Top 50 ''

Restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

'' magazine listed the Three Chimneys as the 28th best restaurant in the world in 2002 and 32nd in the world in 2003.

Colbost Croft Museum

The Colbost Croft Museum, also known as the Folk Museum, is a simple open-air exhibit, set in a garden. At the centre of this simple grassy garden is a perfectly preserved 19th century Hebridean

crofter A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a ten ...

blackhouse A blackhouse ( ; ) is a traditional type of house which used to be common in Ireland, the Hebrides, and the Scottish Highlands. Origin of the name The origin of the name blackhouse is of some debate. On the Isle of Lewis, in particular, it ...

, of which there would have been thousands on Skye before the tragic

Highland clearances The Highland Clearances ( , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulted from Scottish Agricultural R ...

. The house incorporates

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully ...

walls and a heather-

thatched roof Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

. Inside there is the simple furniture that would have been found in such a cottage as well as

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

clippings related to the clearances. The smell of smoke is dominant, as there is no chimney to accommodate the open fire - just a hole in the roof. At the back of the garden there is more vegetation and two little huts where produce would have been stored, one of which contains a mock illegal

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

brewing plant. Lying around the garden there are various agricultural tools including an old rusty

plow A plough or (Differences between American and British spellings, US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs ...

. The

self-service Self-service is a system whereby customers acquire (or serve) themselves goods or services, paying for the items at a point-of-sale, as opposed to a shop assistant or clerk acquiring goods or providing services in addition to taking payment. Comm ...

ticket office is housed in a small

shack A shack (or, in some areas, shanty) is a type of small shelter or dwelling, often primitive or rudimentary in design and construction. Unlike huts, shacks are constructed by hand using available materials; however, whereas huts are usually r ...

with an upturned

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

for a roof.

Sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

often wander into the garden to graze making this not only an

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

but also a living museum.

References

External links

The Three Chimneys
{{Skye Populated places in the Isle of Skye