© Rural Design

Selling up in the city and moving to the country to ‘get away from it all’ is something that I regularly consider - usually at the end of a bad day at work when I think that rearing cows and sheep in the middle of nowhere would offer me a much better quality of life. This decision usually only lasts a few hours before I realise that it would probably be quite lonely existence and that I am, in fact, a little afraid of cows.

However, I am currently spending some time in a town called Troon on the west coast of Scotland and can feel the ‘let’s get away from it all’ urge creeping back. After all, it would be wonderful to be able to build a little holiday home like the one pictured.

© 2011 Nicholas Middleton, Kate Prentice

This particular house, situated in the township of Fiscavaig on the Scottish Isle of Skye, was designed and built by architect Alan Dickinson of Skye based practice Rural Design in collaboration with his clients Nick Middleton and Kate Prentice.

© Rural Design

The design pays homage to the local farm buildings in the area with a wedge form, clad in Scottish larch and a corrugated roof. The interior features open plan living spaces lined with OSB board and incredible views northwards towards the loch.

© 2011 Nicholas Middleton, Kate Prentice

In total, the house cost just £123,000 to build with most of the budget being spent on high levels of insulation in the roof and walls to make the building robust enough to withstand Skye’s wet and windy weather.

If you fancy having a go at island life, 15 Fiscavaig will be available for holiday rentals from July next year.

- A.Morris