The Summer Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Samhraidh, ) are an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

lying in the mouth of

Loch Broom Loch Broom ( gd, Lochbraon, "loch of rain showers") is a sea loch located in northwestern Ross and Cromarty, in the former parish of Lochbroom, on the west coast of Scotland. The small town of Ullapool lies on the eastern shore of the loch. L ...

, in the

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 ...

region of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Geography

Tanera Mòr Tanera Mòr (Scottish Gaelic: Tannara Mòr) is an uninhabited (previously inhabited) island in Loch Broom in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is the largest of the Summer Isles and was the last inhabited island in that group. Tanera Mòr has ...

is the largest island and was the last one to remain inhabited.Kane, Jenny (20 November 2014) "Last permanent residents leave Summer Isles for the mainland". ''The Herald''. Glasgow. It was formerly home to an

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...

fish farm upright=1.3, Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye">mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland Fish farming or ...

, some

rental Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for al ...

holiday homes, a café and a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, which operated its own

local post A local post is a mail service that operates only within a limited geographical area, typically a city or a single transportation route. Historically, some local posts have been operated by governments, while others, known as private local p ...

and printed its own stamps since 1970 until 2013, but a new set is planned for 2016. 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 Achiltibuie (; gd, Achd Ille Bhuidhe or ''Field of the yellow-haired boy'') is a long linear village in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, on the Coigach coast of northwestern Scotland, overlooking Badentarbet Bay to the west. Loch Broom and the Summ ...

and

Ullapool Ullapool (; gd, Ulapul ) is a village and port located in Northern Scotland. Ullapool has a population of around 1,500 inhabitants. It is located around northwest of Inverness in Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands. Despite its modest size, ...

Other islands

* Bò Bhùiridh *

Bottle Island Bottle Island (Scottish Gaelic: ''Eilean a' Bhotail'') is one of the Summer Isles in Loch Broom, Scotland. So called because of its shape, an alternative name is ''Eilean Druim Briste'', "broken ridge island". It is a popular dive Diving most o ...

* Càrn Deas * Càrn Iar * Càrn nan Sgeir * Eilean a' Chàr * Eilean Choinaid * Eilean Dubh * Eilean Fada Beag * Eilean Fada Mòr *

Eilean Mullagrach Eilean Mullagrach is an island in the Summer Isles of Scotland. It is located in Highland council area, in the northwestern part of the country, 800 km northwest of the capital London London is the capital and List of urban areas in ...

* Eilean na Saille * Glas-leac Beag * Glas-leac Mòr * Horse Island * Iolla Mhòr *

Isle Martin Isle Martin ( gd, Eilean Mhàrtainn) is an uninhabited island in Loch Broom, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the closest of the Summer Isles to Ullapool and has been the site of a monastery, a herring curing station and a flour mill. Now reco ...

Isle Ristol Isle Ristol, the innermost of the Summer Isles in Scotland, is a Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserve. Lying roughly north of Ullapool in Wester Ross, it is a tidal island, in Loch an Alltain Duibh, that is separated by a narrow channel from Old ...

* Meall nan Caorach * Meall nan Gabhar * Priest Island (Eilean a' Chlèirich) * Sgeir an Aon Iomairt * Sgeir Bhuidhe Mòr * Sgeir Loisgte * Sgeir nam Mult * Sgeir Ribhinn * Sgeirean Glasa * Stac Mhic Aonghais * Tanera Beag

Conservation

The islands are part of the

Assynt Assynt ( gd, Asainn or ) is a sparsely populated area in the south-west of Sutherland, lying north of Ullapool on the west coast of Scotland. Assynt is known for its landscape and its remarkable mountains, which have led to the area, along with ...

Coigach Coigach () is a peninsula north of Ullapool, in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The area consists of a traditional crofting and fishing community of a couple of hundred houses located between mountain and shore on a peninsula ...

National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.

Frank Fraser Darling Sir Frank Fraser Darling FRSE (23 June 1903 – 22 October 1979) was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland. He gives his name to the Fraser ...

, an important figure in the development of Scottish conservation, lived on

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, film, and music

*The Summer Isles feature in a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

of the same name by Ian R. MacLeod. *The fictional Summer Isle, Cladach Duillich (Sad Shore), features in the 1977

Desmond Bagley Desmond Bagley (29 October 1923 – 12 April 1983) was an English journalist and novelist known mainly for a series of bestselling thrillers. He and fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean set conventions for the genre: ...

novel ''The Enemy''. *The third movement of a guitar suite, "The Great Western Road," on the album of the same name by Tim Slemmons, is entitled, "III. Evening in the Summer Isles." * The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) ''The Big Catch'' (1968) features a group of boys who plan to sail to The Summer Isles to capture a wild pony. Filming took place in and around Ullapool and Lochinver. *The pagan island of "Summerisle" featured in the motion picture ''

The Wicker Man ''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 ...

'' (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 Newton Stewart ( Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to the west of the river, and ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

Summer Isles Philatelic Bureau

Since 1970 the Summer Isles

Philatelic Bureau This a list of philatelic bureaus across the world. In philately, a philatelic bureau is the part of a national postal administration that sells philatelic items to stamp collectors, tourists and stamp dealers. Bureaus by country * Afghanista ...

has been issuing stamps of the islands for tourists who place them on mail to be carried to the nearest

GPO GPO may refer to: Government and politics * General Post Office, Dublin * General Post Office, in Britain * Social Security Government Pension Offset, a provision reducing benefits * Government Pharmaceutical Organization, a Thai state enterpris ...

Post Box on the mainland.

Culture

The musician Mairearad Green grew up in

on the Coigach peninsula, overlooking the Summer Isles. She has released an album entitled ''Summer Isles''.

References

External links

Panorama of the Summer Isles
(QuickTime required) {{Hebrides Ross and Cromarty Archipelagoes of Scotland Islands of Highland (council area) Underwater diving sites in Scotland