Bettyhill

From Store Shelves to the North Coast

Inside the Store Cafe the shelving is the original fixture from the days when this was a general store, and a few of the century-old brand names are still there on the wood. Goods once came in from Gardiners of Orkney, carried across the Pentland Firth and then on by horse and cart; the shop sold meat, fabric and groceries long before it sold coffee. It now does freshly ground coffee, chocolate fudge cake, slow-cooked soups, bacon rolls and cooked breakfasts, served among the fittings that used to weigh out the flour.

Bettyhill sits on the north coast of Sutherland, above Torrisdale Bay, where the River Naver reaches the sea. The A836 threads through it, exposed to whatever the weather is doing, and Farr Bay, a sheltered curve of white sand, is a short walk from the road. This is a village that was made rather than one that grew: it was created as a coastal resettlement for families cleared from the interior of Strathnaver, and named for Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland.

The Coaching Inn and Everyday Stops

The Bettyhill Hotel began as a coaching inn. The present family bought the run-down property in 2011 and developed it; the bar has a pool table, darts and a jukebox, and the restaurant looks out over Torrisdale Bay and the Naver. Chris manages it, and dogs are welcome in the bar and the bedrooms.

For the everyday things there is the General Merchants, which is store, licensed grocer, Post Office, newsagent and fuel station in one, and stocks fresh local produce and specialist hardware alongside the souvenirs. If you mean to fish the Naver, this is where you collect the permit. In front of the museum, the Clachan Cafe handles the roadside trade in refreshments, snacks and treats.

Two Bays and a Broch

The walking is the main reason to be here. The route out to Torrisdale Bay and the Invernaver broch is about five miles and takes the best part of two and a half hours, starting at the River Naver bridge. It runs along the coast, climbs steeply to an Iron Age broch that still holds a double wall, crosses a pathless stretch of moor that wants some navigation, and drops through dunes to the sands, with hut circles, cists and chambered cairns lying beside the river. Torrisdale is rated one of the most spectacular beaches on the north coast. Farr Bay, closer to hand, is the one for a kayak or a surf, though you may share the grass above it with sheep.

Clearances Inside the Old Church

The building that is now Strathnaver Museum was the Farr parish church, built in 1774 and Category B listed. Inside is a hexagonal panelled pulpit of the same year, initialled MGM for the minister, Master George Munro. It was from that pulpit that clearance eviction notices were read out. The community saved the disused church and turned it into a museum in 1976; it holds a Bronze Age burial beaker, a croft-house display, Clan Mackay material and a fishing buoy made from a dog's skin, and tells the story of the roughly 1,500 people cleared from Strathnaver in the years leading to 1819, after which almost the whole valley passed to two sheep farmers, among them Patrick Sellar.

Pool, Rail and the Evening Bay

There is a small leisure centre with a three-lane pool, and the trains are a way off: the nearest station is Forsinard, about twenty-eight road miles south, with a pre-booked dial-a-bus along the A836 to Melvich. Tongue is thirteen miles west if you want a castle to walk to. Most evenings, though, the pull is the other way, downhill to the bay, quieter once the day-trippers have gone.