Annie's Croft

There's a weathered stone cottage sitting alone on the moorland near Sutherland, and that's Annie's Croft - a proper slice of Highland history that won't take long to visit but sticks with you longer than you'd expect. This is where people actually lived, scratching a living from marginal land in one of Scotland's most unforgiving corners. The building itself is simple, almost austere. Stone walls, small windows, the kind of place where wind and rain were constants rather than exceptions.

What makes it worth the drive is the sheer sense of isolation and resilience the place conveys. You're standing on exposed moorland with nothing but hills and sky, and you start to understand why crofting communities are so embedded in Highland identity. There's no visitor centre, no interpretive boards - just the cottage and the landscape telling their own story.

Walkers heading through the region will find it a natural waypoint, though don't expect it to be a full afternoon's activity. Give it 20 minutes to look around and soak it in. The real value is in combining it with a longer moorland walk or staying nearby at Clachtoll Beach Campsite, which sits just five miles away and offers proper coastal contrast to this inland emptiness.

Best visited on a clear day when the light hits the stone properly. Rainy afternoons work too, actually - there's something oddly appropriate about experiencing a croft when the weather's turning foul.