Kerrera Tea Garden

We will be opening the cafe for takeaway only each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12pm - 2pm from 7th August.

We've mulled over every possible option in the hope that we can do something for the many locals and visitors from further afield who have been showing their support to us. Given the strange circumstances we all find ourselves in, we need to balance what is currently safe for our family, our community and for our customers, so we kindly ask for your understanding while things are very much not business as usual!

We will have a few delicious options for you to takeaway and enjoy, either on the picnic benches on the hill or find a nice spot on the island to picnic. All packaging will be recyclable/compostable and we'll provide bins for this. Our toilet and picnic bench area will be open from 12-2pm for customers and there will be sanitiser available.   

We will be operating a pre order system to guarantee your tasty treats and first come first serve to those who don't manage to pre order.

Pre order form HERE

Bunkhouse

We will be opening dates for the bunkhouse from Friday August 7th for those who fancy some splendid isolation on our delightful little island. There is a minimum 3 night stay and we will allow for several days between bookings to deep clean all the facilities.

The bunkhouse, shower and toilet are for the exclusive use of guests and not shared with anyone. We are now including the Byre with all bookings as standard. It's a super unique room with a large dining table, comfy sofas, castle views and a new wood burning stove to relax in front of.

The cost includes a basket of wood per night. We'll be able to collect luggage from the ferry but will be unable to offer people a lift to the premises. Please be aware that it's a 3km walk from the ferry.

We use Airbnb for bookings and you can find our listing here https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/9875962

We look forward to welcoming you in 2019! We'll be open 7 days a week from 10:30am - 4:30pm serving soups and stews from around the world as well as a selection of tasty home made cakes and scones.

We are open 7 days a week until Sunday the 30th of September 2018 which will be our last day of the season.

We'll re-open in April 2019 and look forward to welcoming you!

Thanks to Mark O'Dowd from Cork for taking some lovely drone pictures on a delightful summers day!

Gylen castle from high and far with a great view of Seil and Scarba:

Gylen Castle with the Tea Garden in the background and the seemingly tropical looking waters!

Google earth like shot directly above the Tea Garden:

A stunning hazy summers day with the Tea Garden, Bunkhouse and Bell Tent!

Amazing Gylen Castle

We're excited to be reopening for our fifth season on Monday, April 3rd from 10:30am - 4:30pm. Thereafter we'll be open 7 days a week until the end of September.

The bunkhouse is now full from 17th May until 23rd of July and weekends are booked right up until mid August so if you fancy booking a wee trip away in West Highland Paradise you better get a wiggle on!

We've had some stunning low sunsets this winter:

As well as several snow dustings as usual! Here's hoping the spring sunshine comes out for the Easter Holidays!

The Tea Garden will be open 7 days a week until Friday September 30th! We hope to see you before we close!

We're delighted to say that we featured on this weeks edition of Countryfile!

Anita Rani and the film crew visited a few weeks ago on a murky summers day and got to experience island life Kerrera style!

You can watch the programme on the BBC iPlayer here

We had Anita in the kitchen making scones and having a blether, then she helped Izzy fix up the bell tent ready for some guests!

She even featured as a guest referee in our Teapot Olympics....see the post below!

Hello (Tea related) Sports Fans!

We're happy to announce that the Tea Pot Olympics is well and truely under way over on our Facebook page! We've had a couple of rounds already but you can still influence the winners if you pop over HERE

We were delighted to welcome the Countryfile team to Kerrera today and even managed to rope Anita Rani into a guest referee spot for the battle of the big hitting wee guys: Merry-merry go round V Tudor Mansions. 

Below you can see some of the feisty competitors in the aesthetics athletics:

The Hunt V The Hoose! (The Hoose won!)

Spotted Dick V Big Red (Big Red Won!)

Lime Green Dream V Bird of Paradise (Lime Green Dream romped home to victory. This made Martin )

Merry-Merry-go-round V Tudor Mansions! 

Braziliant V Floral Joy (Coming soon!)

***UPDATE***

We're delighted and proud to say we reached an amazing milestone pof £4100 (at time of type!). We really are so lucky to have some many supportive friends, family and customers! Thank you all! The monies raised will be targeted directly to those who need it the most. We'll keep you posted hopefully with some pictures and stories of how the fund is helping people.

We're happy to announce that we have started a fundrasing campaign to help with those affected by the spike in cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) as a result of the Zika epidemic.

We were lucky enough to travel to Brazil on our honeymoon this off season and little did we expect the amount of media coverage that the country was getting relating to the rare autoimmune condition. 10 years ago Martin had a severe case of GBS so he knows all too well the strain on hospitals, families and the individuals themselves to battle back to health. In Brazil and other South American countries there are many clinics struggling to cope with a spike in the condition that is being triggered by the Zika virus. 

GBS is 100 years old this year and fittingly, Glasgow will host the world symposium on June 24th. The day before, June 23rd, we have pledged to donate 100% of all money made at the Tea Garden and will welcome any donations made by kind patrons between now and then.

At the time of typing this we are almost a quarter of the way to our target of £5000! If you can spare a few quid we would be delighted if you can donate online following this link Fundrazr Site

The Oban times ran the story this week and we're hoping to get the word spread far and wide so get in touch if you can help.

We're happy to announce that we will be open for our 4th season on Good Friday, 25 March from 10:30-4:30

Before we get to the cuteness we must warn people who are planning on visiting Kerrera that there are some vital construction works going on to the slipway infrastructure and this has vastly reduced the parking available close to the Kerrera Ferry port. You can still park for free along Gallanach Road but be prepared to leave a little extra time to park and walk and don't dispair if you see the wee boat leaving as they will be right back to get the remaining passengers. (Ferry Timetable) 

So we've got a few early arrivals on the island at Balliemore Farm!

And the weather has been tip-top!

It really feels like spring has arrived! Come and see for yourself, we're open 7 days a week and have unique accommodation options in our Bunkhouse and Bell Tent!

info@kerrerabunkhouse.co.uk

01631566367

The cafe is now closed, we open on Good Friday 2016!

We cannot believe we are posting our closing date already! This season has flown by after our amazing wedding way back in March! 

Our last day of cafe opening is MONDAY 28th of SEPTEMBER, 10:30am until 4:30pm. The garden is still looking spectacular so come along and see us and for those that cannot make it, Aideen has been snap happy with some of the more majestic specimens.....name that flower :)

From us and Colin, our guard owl, we'd like to thank everyone who made 2015 so special. We look forward to welcoming friends old and new next year from Good Friday!

Aideen and Martin

Hello Friends! Just a wee heads up to say we will be closed for the Triathlon this coming weekend (5th/6th September)

We've been riding high this month on the back of our Certificate of Excellence award from Trip Advisor! At time of writing we are sitting pretty at number 5 out of over 80 eateries in and around Oban! High praise indeed and especially pleasing as it comes from customers directly!

We've still to decide for sure what date we will close for the season but for certain we'll be open over the final weekend of September (26/27th Sept). We'll keep an eye on the weather and keep you posted on whether we'll be open in the final week days.

If in doubt feel free to give us a bell on 01631 566367

We're super excited to present a short film by our friend Borja at Wav Lab Studios! We expected something special but what he has produced is just astounding. If you're in any doubt of the beauty that Kerrera has to offer, sit back and marvel at nature at it's finest! (It deserves full screen and HD!)

Kerrera from Wav Lab Studio on Vimeo.

We're excited to present a new regular on our specials board for Summer 2015 that features some of the best hot smoked salmon Scotland has to offer!

The Green Shack in Oban is legendary and a firm favorite of ours when we make a rare foray off the island in the summer. The owner, John Ogdon, is passionate about seafood and produces some of the most flavoursome, tender, hot smoked salmon money can buy and we're putting it in a superb new sandwich!

We've also been working on new home made bread for all our sandwiches and salads. The Little Sourdough bakery have been key in helping to guide us through the whole process of creating and using a unique Kerrera Sourdough Starter that we use instead of yeast to help our loaves rise. We're still using 100% Doves Farm Organic flour and the only other ingredients are water and kosher salt. 

We've just taken delivery of our new pigs that we keep up at Balliemore Farm with our neighbours Gill and Tim. This is the third year we've kept these amazing animals and we're delighted to be able to share some of the craft charcuterie creations that are starting to bear fruit!

Air dried ham or proscuitto/parma/serrano, depending where you are, is the longest of long game craft creations! We cured these full legs in October 2014 and they have been hanging, drying and maturing ever since. 

The resulting creation is a real delight and even though we only have a few legs, we're still planning on pairing some wafer thin slices with some avocado smash on sourdough toast at various points in the season!

We're excited for the season to be underway and we're looking forward to welcoming you all to the Tea Garden an Bunkhouse.

For long spells last year the bunkhouse was full up with Geology students from all over the country which was good news for us but bad news if you wanted to come and stay with us! With that in mind we have made a small expansion to our accomodation options here on Kerrera with our stunning 4 metre bell tent.

We've not had many sun splitting days since we put it up so most of the pictures are quite murky but rest assured, you'll be hard pushed to get a more stunning view from any tent space in the UK.

Commanding views of Mull, Colonsay, The Garvellachs, Seil, Luing, Scarba, Jura and Islay, you feel like you're camped at the end of the earth!

We've built a platform for the tent which helps keep it feeling cosy inside, especially with all the rugs and nice bedding inside.

There is a double bed raised from the tent floor on upcycled pallets (my favorite things!), comfy and cosy heavy tog duvet and pillows, woodburning stove, vibrant rugs, solar lights, outdoor covered cooking area, bbq access, shared bathroom and showering facilities and of course the amazing views as standard!

(The picture above does not show the platform or the pallet bedframe)

There's nothing quite like waking to the morning mist being burned off by the sun, getting the wee stove on and enjoying a cuppa while planning your day in one of the most stunning places imaginable.

We'll post more pictures wih a nice sunny backdrop as soon as we see it again, in the meantime, if you're interested in booking the bunkhouse or our bell tent, please send us an email to info@kerrerabunkhouse.co.uk or call 01631 566367

We'd like to welcome you all to 2015 with some snaps from a delightfully wintry Kerrera. We're glad to say the storms have not affected Gylen Castle, it's still as breathtaking on any day but especially when the sun shines and the waves crash!

(PS, We open the cafe on Friday April 4th!)

There have been quite a few days of full snow coverage which is a first for us. It really makes for a magical scene but thankfully, for the animals sake, it was short lived. Enough time for a few hours sledging and snapping!

The peaks of Cruachan will have a cover of snow probably into March, it's nice when they escape the cloud and show off for us to see here.

A very cute and probably very early new arrival on Kerrera. Mum and Dad were close but I was able to sit it for a few minutes and say hi.

The winter really does bring a different level of sunset, and the bonus is we see it every day! Super pinks on this one.

On Facebook, we have a new Fan Album, where we are happy to post some of your best pictures of the island. Feel free to get on board and send any pictures to us on the email below:

Call us on 01631 566367 or email info@kerrerabunkhouse.co.uk

The nights and indeed our second season are fair drawing in! Our last day of Tea Garden business this year will be Sunday September the 28th. We'll be open until 4:30pm that day. 

We'll still be taking bunkhouse bookings so do get in touch to see what dates we have available and you might be lucky enough to experience this awsome view of Gylen Castle, the Milky Way and vast swathes of the Universe! Thanks to Duncan Harvey for this incredible photograph.

A huge thanks to all our customers, helpers and island neighbours who have all helped make Season 2 really special! We really do have the best office in the world :)

After being used to transport many different heavy loads, we decided to rehome these lovely pallets. 

We sanded the surfaces lovingly (and have the splinters to prove it!), we varnished, painted and buffed them, up to a fine finish.

Below is 'Big Brown' welcoming you at our front door:

And here is 'Wee Red', posing in the corner of the Byre for anyone seeking shelter from the rain or the strong west highland sun!

Link here for more pics:

What an incredible opening to our second season! The Easter weather has been kind to us again this year and the flora is about to go into overdrive! It's been wonderful to hear the bustle of a busy garden with customers mingling with the birds and the bees. 

Special Offer!

Why not come and stay over for a joyous Kerrera sunset! Our bunkhouse is full all of June and July, however as a special offer, we are delighted to offer anyone wanting to come in May 15% off their total bill. There are still a few weekends available at the time of this update so call or email for more details. Please quote MAYDAY SPECIAL when booking to activate your discount. 

Call us on 01631 566367 or email info@kerrerabunkhouse.co.uk

Aideen has cooked up a batch of tablet to keep the wolves from the door during your walk round the island. They'd also make the perfect wee gift for a sweet toothed friend! Grab a bag in the cafe today!

Summer timetable on the horizon!

The ferry will be moving to Summer timetable from Monday 14th April. For full details please visit www.kerrera-ferry.co.uk 

Just a reminder folks that we are open 7 days from 10:30am until 4:30pm.

We took a lovely stroll up to the highest point of Kerrera at the weekend and realised how close we are to the beginning of our second season here at the Tea Garden and Bunkhouse! We officially open the cafe on Friday April 4th from 10:30am till 4:30pm and will be open 7 days a week till September! The bunkhouse is also open for anyone wanting to stay with us and enjoy the sunsets and starry nights, we are already full for June and July so booking ahead is advised! Anyone coming along should note that the Kerrera Ferry is still on winter timetable (www.kerreraferry.co.uk) 

 Patrick Rowan returned to Kerrera in the spring of 2013 after having visited the island as a child. He and his friend Lawrie stayed with us in the Bunkhouse for 2 weeks and produced this fabulous insight into island life with some amazing video and time lapse footage. Partrick also took some incredible long exposure shots of the tea garden and bunkhouse, you can find these shots elsewhere on the website and on our Facebook page. (The amazing starry sky ones)

"It might feel like a test, but the reward - entry to an enchanting other-world about thirteen minutes away from urbanisation (a ten minute drive from Oban, plus about three minutes to cross the Sound of Kerrera) makes the initiation not only worthwhile, but part of the adventure."

Click here to read all about it .. 

Aideen's new creation...A rich chocolate, courgette and orange cake, laced with walnuts and topped with orange glace icing. On the specials board now!