When we were traveling around the Highlands, we did little to no planning on the towns and villages that we should visit. We knew we wanted to drive at our leisure and knew roughly where we wanted to pitch out tent, but not much else. It was to my absolute delight when we stumbled across Ullapool in Scotland. (‘Stumbled’ is a bit of an exaggeration – we were doing the North Coast 500)
I absolutely adored Ullapool. The village is about 45 minutes north of Inverness. Ullapool is a picturesque little fishing village on the banks of Loch Broom. It’s beautiful and remote, but its food and drink scene was also top-notch. I couldn’t believe how many delicious delis and restaurants that we chanced upon. The West Coast Delicatessen was absolutely phenomenal, as was The Seaforth and the Seafood Shack. It was outside The Seaforth that I smashed the screen of my iphone on the cobbles, so I am reminded of Ullapool every time I glance at my phone.
I also managed to do a tiny bit of shopping in Ullapool. I visited Made in Ullapool which is an absolutely amazing local candle shop with an incredible purpose. They are a social enterprise that supports vulnerable adults in a work environment, offering work and training opportunities to people who have a range of disabilities. They try to give people the chance to develop new skills at an individual pace in a safe nonjudgmental setting. I can’t recommend supporting their cause more highly. Even if you aren’t in Ullapool anytime soon, you can purchase some of the candles online and they are really, really great candles!
I hear that it has an interesting arts, music and literature scene as well. We definitely nipped into some cute galleries and I’d love to go back for one of the festivals that take place in the village. An Talla Solais is the community-led art centre in Ullapool and it has two sides: an artist studio/workspace with space for classes and the other venue has exhibitions. It’s such a well-rounded little village.
There are also regular ferries from Ullapool to the Outer Hebrides.
In fact, I’d just love to go back to Ullapool full-stop, one day! Ullapool got a big thumbs up from Harold as well, so I definitely foresee a return visit.
Have you ever visited Ullapool? Or anywhere else in the Scottish Highlands?
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