While on a tour of Glencoe, our tour guide took us to Crafts & Things for lunch. What an adorable…read moreplace! Its a craft store, a gift shop, and a wonderful cafe. They have a really good selection of art and prints. I found a Bee & Thistle print I had to have, and they even put it in a mailing tube so that I can send it home and not have to carry it around with me. Their gift shop has a great selection of jewelry, souvenirs, and gifts for loved ones back home. Many things you cannot find in the bigger cities here, as they are local made. The cafe in the back has wonderful homemade food. We had soup and toasties (grilled cheese sealed in a pie iron), and the quiche of the day, which were all really good. The desserts will tempt you to take them home with you. Its definitely a nice place to stop while touring the Glencoe valley.

It gets the job done and for what/where it is it gets the job done for a solid breakfast and…read moremorning caffeine. Artwork decorates the walls and books for sale in the seating area. We've definitely been to nicer cafes while in Scotland but in this remote area beggars cannot be choosy lol!

A lovely little pottery down on the bay in Cromarty. Lots of great pieces to take home and use…read more Lots of the pottery is made in glorious blues and greens that perfectly reflect the colours of the water in the bay. The pieces are made by a German lady, Bärbel Dister from Hamburg. We have a few mugs, a salt shaker and a lovely spoon rest from here and we always visit when we're in the area.

We found this place by accident last year, purchased a few quirky items (a mug, a spoon rest and an…read moreunusually shaped salt shaker, both in pretty greenish, blueish colour). I just fell in love with these luminous colours, that pick up the blues and greens in the Highlands that we admire so much every day. But of course there's plenty of colours to choose from. This pottery is the perfect thing for me to take home and to remind me of my beloved Scotland when I sit in my office in Hamburg, having a cuppa and wishing I were back in Scotland. Just HAD to come back this year for more! We bought some beautiful mugs, very reasonably priced, small mug £10, big ones £12, there were also huge ones for £17. There's a good choice of items, the owner often sells them in her shop herself. Had a look at the website before we went there this year and found out that Cromarty Pottery, originally opened in 1965, and probably is the oldest still operating in northern Scotland. It is now run by Bärbel Dister, who happens to be from Hamburg, like me lol. I am really suprised about the prices, I just love handmade pottery, and I have bought my fair share in both Scotland and Ireland, most were much pricier. If you consider it's all handmade, every piece is unique, and the colours are just so beautiful people don't mind spending 10-12 quid for a portion of fish'n'chips in a restaurant, but 12£ for a mug is too much? I really don't get it. We'll surely be back on our next holiday, we've agreed to phone in a few weeks before to get a few things in the colours we'd like, maybe even take a class if we can get together a group of 6-7 people.

House of Bruar was one of those unexpected road-trip delights. My spouse had been told we had to…read morestop, while our third travel companion and I were... let's say, skeptical. But we ended up pulling in for breakfast and a browse, and we walked out grinning. There's both a coffee bar and a sit-down cafe; we opted for the cafe, which was perfectly fine for a quick bite before wandering the shops. But the real fun was exploring the place itself. House of Bruar is part country store, part upscale gift shop, part museum of Things You Didn't Know You Needed. You can find everything from cashmere to kitchen tools, with price points ranging from impulse-buy to aspirational. We mostly window-shopped, but it was genuinely enjoyable - lots to look at, and beautifully presented. We did, however, make sure to raid the food section. They have an impressive selection of snacks, condiments, sweets, and treats, and picking out a handful of goodies to nibble on for the rest of our road trip was one of the highlights of the stop. In the end, the skeptic duo had to admit: this recommendation was a good one. If you're passing through, House of Bruar is well worth a visit - even if you just come for breakfast and a wander.

Fantastic place to stop for some upscale gourmet market finds, high end clothing shops and outdoor…read moremarket stands. The cakes are beautiful, a wide variety of gluten free options. They had just about every kind of cake and tart you can think of. Very fresh and delicious. Coffee bar, ice creams, fresh milk dispenser, fresh pressed orange juice. Beautiful setting in an all glass atrium. I tried the gluten free lemon and elderflower cake with a flat white. It was amazing. I would recommend stopping for brunch or lunch. There is a waterfall within walking distance that you should check out.

I really like this shop. Friendly and knowledgeable staff with a genuine interest in creativity and…read moretechnique. Stocks lots of different media, canvas and boards. Feels a bit crowded, but they have packed a huge amount into a tiny space. So glad I found this shop.