Summer Isles

For other uses, see Summer Isles (disambiguation).

Summer Isles
Scottish Gaelic:
The Summer Isles from Ben Mòr Coigach
Summer Isles  Summer Isles shown within the Highland council area
Population	5 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	NB992067
Council area	Highland
Lieutenancy area	Ross and Cromarty
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ULLAPOOL
Postcode district	IV26
Dialling code	01854
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Scottish Parliament	Ross, Skye and Inverness West
List of places UK Scotland

The Summer Isles (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Samhraidh, pronounced [nə ˈhelanən ˈs̪auɾɪ]) are an archipelago lying in the mouth of Loch Broom, in the Highland region of Scotland.

Geography

The only inhabited isle, Tanera Mòr, is also the largest. It is home to an Atlantic salmon fish farm, some rental holiday homes, a café and a post office, which has operated its own local post and printed its own stamps since 1970. The island has no roads and the only recognisable path goes around the Anchorage, the sheltered bay on the east side of the island. Boats sail to the island from Achiltibuie and Ullapool.

Smaller islands

• Bottle Island
• Horse Island
• Isle Martin
• Priest Island (Eilean a' Chlèirich)
• Isle Ristol
• Tanera Beag
• Eilean a' Chàr
• Eilean Dubh
• Eilean Fada Mòr
• Eilean Fada Beag
• Eilean Mullagrach
• Glas-leac Beag
• Glas-leac Mòr
• Càrn Iar
• Càrn Deas
• Càrn nan Sgeir
• Meall nan Gabhar

Conservation

The islands are part of the Assynt-Coigach National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.

Frank Fraser Darling, an important figure in the development of Scottish conservation, lived on Tanera Mòr for two years in the 1930s. His book, Island Years (published 1940), records his time in the Summer Isles, painting Priest Island as a place of great beauty as well as great wildlife.

Literature and film

• The Summer Isles feature in a novella of the same name by Ian R. MacLeod
• The fictional Summer Isle, Cladach Duillich (Sad Shore), features in the 1977 Desmond Bagley novel "The Enemy".
• The pagan island of "Summerisle" featured in the motion picture The Wicker Man (filmed in 1973 & directed by Robin Hardy) is sometimes mistakenly associated with this archipelago, but in actuality The Wicker Man was filmed around Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway.

Summer Isles Philatelic Bureau

Since 1970 the Summer Isles Philatelic Bureau has been issuing stamps of the islands for tourists who place them on mail to be carried to the nearest GPO Post Box on the mainland.

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View south, over Altandhu and in Loch an Alltain Duibh, of the Summer Isles. Isle Ristol is in the foreground with Eilean Mullagrach to the right

External links

• Panorama of the Summer Isles (QuickTime required)