Tongue Youth Hostel reopens
TONGUE Youth Hostel has reopened for the summer season under new ownership.
The substantial property has been sold by the Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA) to a local family.
Richard and Suzanne Mackay, both 32, have taken it over along with Richard’s parents, Stephen (53) and Carol Mackay (55). The two couples live in Tongue and Richard is a principal engineer at the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment at Dounreay. Suzanne is a senior waste specialist at Dounreay, although she is presently on maternity leave expecting her second child.
Stephen is an offshore drilling supervisor and Carol looks after their grandchildren.
The family officially opened the hostel on 28th March and are holding an open day tomorrow (Saturday) for anyone interested in looking round the building.
Another local resident, Julia Sutherland, has been appointed as manager.
Situated on the shores of the Kyle of Tongue and with stunning views, the hostel has been operating since the 1930s and can accommodate 40 people. Suzanne said the family originally intended to set up a caravan and campsite in Tongue but could not find a suitable location.
“We noticed that the youth hostel had a lot of flat land round it and thought that instead of just having a campsite and caravan park we could have a range of low cost accommodation,” she said.
The family approached SYHA with an offer and the sale of the property was concluded at the end of January.
The Mackays will be running the hostel as an SYHA affiliate under the new title Kyle of Tongue Hostel and Holiday Park.
Mrs Mackay said: “The hostel is in very good condition and we were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was inside. We have given it a bit of a facelift but there was no major renovation work required.”
The family hope to have a campsite and caravan park up and running by next season.
“The intention is to get plans drawn up over the next few months and take it from there,” said Mrs Mackay.
“We will continue to add other accommodation options, including cabins and pods.”
