How and where can I find a really remote cottage? Ireland, Scotland, Wales.... where else?

[StarryStarryNight]

I am looking to buy a really remote little 2 bedroom cottage as a holiday home.

I am thinking Wales, Ireland, Scotland, but dont know where to start?

Or maybe land and do a timber self build?

Has anybody done this?

Any suggestions for nice areas where I can cycle, angling (river and sea fishing), pick wild berries, etc...

I dont need electricity.

I wish it were like that here, Starry. I really do! But it's more like an increasingly exclusive country club with a few serfs hanging on to serve the master and mistress.

I was obviously not aware that there is such a big difference in how cottage ownership is perceived, and indeed what sort of people own cottages, in our countries.

This has been very interesting, and I think that I am better off NOT trying to realize my dream of a simple timber cabin on the British isles. My family would probably either not be very welcome (and timber burns easily) or looked upon as complete loons.

Yes Starry,there is no automatic right to speak Welsh.Bizaree in light of it being oldest language in Europe.My English mother was at that protest.
i have just finished writing a letter of complaint to a well known local restaurant who tried to stop staff speaking Welsh in the kitchen.The battle is neverending.

No, gorgeous expat. I wasn't referring to you as being mean. Perhaps an x-post misunderstanding?

Starry,why not rent?
Or move up to somewhere permanently?

Starry, you would be welcome in England. There are plenty of places you could try there.

When I lived in Cumbria there were similar problems there to the ones described in other posts here. Sorry. Not language issues, but pushing up the prices for locally born people.

Renting could be an option. I need to find somewhere I would like to go to again and again ( I am like that), where I can get both weekend rentals and long summer lets.

Cant move permanently because of my husbands work. He commutes between London and India. I am alone quite a lot too. So it would be nice to take the kids on the weekend when he is away, as it is hart to entertain kids in London on my own.

"around a mountainside, sometimes too steep for animals such as sheep"

crikey, if it's too steep for sheep, it's too steep for a house

Would a timber cottage get planning permission? That damn planning permission. Of course, they'll give it to Donald Trump, but I'm sure it must have involved a thick brown envelope.

What about these? It's remote, believe me. My stamping ground

pointydog sorry, that was not very well phrased, it is not just the steepness. Boulders and crevices hidden under moss and heathers will meen the animals get their legs trapped, or may even break a leg. It is a very rugged land.

But you often find houses built on steep slopes, they use dymamite to blow away part of the rock, so on the inside the room is square, and on the outside it looks like it has sunken into the terrain.

How about a tipi? I know this bloke who runs these-old schoolfriend of dh.Lovely part of the world too

Starry, if you ever want to explore the north of England, I have an aunty with a 3-bed house who lives on her own. She'd be happy to take in lodgers for a while.

Moondog thanks, I have saved both those links, it looks interesting, especially the cabins.

Desi, I might just take you up on that. We bought an old banger of motorhome this year, and we are keen to "go where no man has gone before", or somethign of that sort...

One more site.Dolgellau is lovely.Have worked there today

Different question, any of you coming to the London Christmas meet? Desi? Somebody on the thread was saying they wishes expat would come.

Adding that one too, moondog! You coming to the christmas meet?

No
I will be too busy burning down cottages.

I sincerely hope they are
a) empty
b) not on the links you just sent me.

A friend was looking into a self-build project near Tighnabruaich in Argyll. Might not be remote enough for you though and I think the idea was to build a sustainable community rather than for holiday homes.

Oh,and I am sorry for my rudeness.The fact that you are not British completely changes my intepretation of your comments.

Mea culpa

I live in a rural part of England and second home owners are not really welcome here, either. They wouldn't burn your house down or your 4x4 but any expensive car might get rude words scratched into it.

Why do you feel the need to own the land? Personally I'd suggest you took a tent or rented homes in different parts of the country and have a wider range of experience. I stayed in very remote cottage on a Scottish island once and I recommend St Agnes on the Scily Isles - campsite adjacent to the sea, if you don't get blown away.

Personally I feel incomers bring things that are important to sometimes stagnant communities. Community land trusts are worth investigating as a way of providing affordable homes.

I think it's fair to say, starry, that there are issues about second-home owners in rural and remote parts of teh UK (whether it's Cornwall or Wales or Scotland) and it's probably a good thing that you know the concerns and get a feel for why it can be an emotive subject. Then you can decide for yourself whether to buy or rent. Particularly strong feelings in North Wales.