Achany is a hamlet in Sutherland in the Scottish council area of

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

, Scotland. It lies off the B864 road on the west bank of the

River Shin The River Shin ( gd, Abhainn Sin, ) is a river in the Scottish North West Highlands. The river flows from the southern end of Loch Shin, next to the village of Lairg. It flows in a generally southward direction, passing by Shin Forest and over th ...

south of

Lairg Lairg ( gd, An Luirg, meaning "the shank/shin") is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scotland. It has a population of 891 and is at the south-eastern end of Loch Shin. Lairg is unusual in the northern Highlands in being a large settlement th ...

. The hamlet, which includes the Achany Glen (or Achany Forest), is also home to a Category B

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, Achany House, and a

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

development that garners a community benefit fund.

Geography

Achany Glen is a mixed conifer forest of mixed broadleaf native woodland that lies to the west of the Shin Falls Visitor Centre. It contains many small glades, characterised by alders and birch

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

, as well as

wood sorrel ''Oxalis'' ( (American English) or (British English)) is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae, comprising over 550 species. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species d ...

and moss. A trail spur, the salmon leap viewpoint, is located on the glen's Riverside Walk.

Energy

Construction of an onshore wind farm began in April 2009 and was completed in 2010, generating 38 Megawatts through 19 turbines. The Achany Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund was launched in early 2010, provided by SSE, the wind farm's developer, and managed by the Scottish Community Foundation, a registered grant-making charity.

Culture

The hamlet contains Achany House, a Category B listed building dating from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. At least three renovations were subsequently made, the first in the mid-nineteenth century, another in the mid-later nineteenth century, and yet another in the late nineteenth century. In 1840, the house was purchased by Sir

James Matheson Sir James Nicolas Sutherland Matheson, 1st Baronet, FRS (17 November 179631 December 1878), was a Scottish Tai-Pan. Born in Shiness, Lairg, Sutherland, Scotland, he was the son of Captain Donald Matheson. He attended Edinburgh's Royal High Sc ...

who added two bayed wings containing the lavish living room and dining room. Matheson's nephew added an upper floor in 1878 and an extension at the rear in 1885. In 1948, it was purchased by the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

and served as an agricultural college under the North of Scotland College of Agriculture from November 1953 until it became a hotel. Today, it is a private dwelling. A tourist information office had been located between Achany Forest and the

Falls of Shin Falls of Shin is a waterfall on the River Shin, in northern Scotland, near the villages of Bonar Bridge and Lairg. Falls of Shin had a popular visitor centre, managed as part of Balnagown Estates, a company owned by former Harrods boss Mohamed ...

. It was bought by Mohamed Al-Fayed in 2002 and converted into the most northerly outpost of Harrods.

References

{{reflist Populated places in Sutherland