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Leanach Farm Working Sheepdogs and so Much More!

I wanted to post a quick review of our stay at the Leanach Farm Cottage as I know that there's been interest in working sheepdog demonstrations and the Leault Farm demonstrations mentioned in the Rick Steves guidebooks seem to be catering just to tour groups at the moment. I had originally booked rooms for our family at a B&B in Inverness, but changed our reservation when I learned that Leanach Farm provides these demonstrations by request for those staying with them. My daughter thought that I was a little crazy to move us to a farm six miles out of town when we weren't renting a car, but it turned out to be a glorious decision for us. Iain and Rosanne McKay own the farm, B&B, and self-catering cottage. Iain is a sheepdog trialist, and as promised on the website, he provided our family group with a marvelous demonstration of two of his dogs working the sheep in one of their large pastures. (https://leanachfarm.co.uk/working-dogs ) We got to watch Jim and Jess, dogs with very differing personalities, follow his voice commands to bring in a small flock of sheep. Wow! They are FAST and intelligent and obviously love being out there rounding up the sheep. The website says that you can call to see if you can set up a time to watch the dogs even if you don't stay on the farm. There is a fee for that. April is lambing season, so no demonstrations are available at that time, but according to the guest book in our cottage, visitors got to "help" with the lambing which was a big thrill for them.

I highly recommend Leanach Farm B&B even if you're not interested in sheepdog demonstrations. It's in a beautiful setting with views to the Nairn train viaduct (very much like the Glenfinnan Viaduct of Harry Potter fame). Besides the sheep and dogs, they have horses and a pair of highland cows and there was even a frolicking baby "hairy coo" when we were there. The farm is located between the Cullodan Battlefield and Clava Cairns. We walked to both (25-30 min each way), and a good pub featuring huge meals is located even closer. When we went into Inverness, we did have to pay 18 to 20 pounds each way for a taxi, but there is a bus that runs infrequently during the day. Beautiful accommodations with lovely people!

So if you want to do something that's beyond just a onetime sheepdog demonstration, I would recommend looking into this lovely farm stay.

Posted by
33991 posts

That's a great recommendation, DebbieP

Posted by
797 posts

It sounds wonderful! Thanks for the recommendation.

Posted by
38 posts

Sounds lovely. We will be in the area in mid-September. Just wondering what the name of the good pub was. Thanks

Posted by
66 posts

The pub is the Culloden Moor Inn. It’s definitely not what I’d consider a destination pub, and doesn’t look that enticing from the outside. We appreciated having a pub walking distance from the farm. The food was good and plentiful, and the service was great.

Rogerbrown, thanks for your correction on the word to use to describe a group of sheep. City girl here. I was definitely out of my element, but that was one of the reasons the whole experience was so engaging for me. I’ll correct the original post.

Posted by
38 posts

Thanks DebbieP. I googled the locations and that was the pub that showed up. Doesn't look fantastic from the outside, but your review, and others on other sites, indicate it as a good choice. Thanks.