Stone’s Throw has been in our family for generations, and its story began in a rather unexpected way.

My great-aunt Seonag was living and working in Edinburgh when she was struck by a bus while crossing the road. Thankfully, she survived and later received compensation from the bus company. With that money, Seonag and her siblings bought the croft at Calanais and built the stone cottage that still stands here today.

Seonag, her sister and her brother spent the rest of their lives here, working the croft and making the cottage their home. It eventually passed to my mother and then to me when she moved to Stornoway.

Over the past few years, I’ve carefully renovated the cottage, bringing it up to modern standards while preserving as much of its original character and charm as possible.

Today, Stone’s Throw sits in its large garden on the family croft, just a short walk from the Calanais Standing Stones. I like to think Seonag and her family would be pleased to know that, all these years later, their little stone cottage is still in the family — and is now a place where people from around the world come to make memories of their own.