A few weeks ago when I wrote about new accommodations on Islay I briefly mentioned a new type of accommodation, the storm-pod, built by Stormcats in Lagavulin. In the meanwhile the booking site for the first commercial storm-pod at Lagavulin Bay is online at www.islay-pods.co.uk. The Storm-pods raised quite some attention and Carl Reavey, editor of the Ileach, had a closer look.

Carl: "Gus Newman’s latest wheeze aimed at keeping his Storm-troopers gainfully employed may just be his most successful yet. It is certainly his most radical. The Lagavulin based firm has progressed through Stormcat boats to work in and fish from, to Stormroofs to keep the rain out of our homes, to his latest idea - Storm-pods that we can actually live in, or at least holiday from. A Storm-pod is a fibreglass shell that is dug into the side of a hill, or buried in a mound, insulated, internally clad with attractive wooden tongue-and-groove and faced with cedar that can be expected to last for fifty years or more.

"You may have heard of ‘glamping’. Posh camping to you and I, and I suppose pod living must be something like it, but I suspect it is a cut above your average tent or caravan, no matter how smart it might be. There are not many wigwams or yurts with double glazing and a wet room with loo, or indeed a foot of turf overhead damping down the sound of the rain. It’s cosy, but it’s posh cosy.

"The possibilities for developing the idea are surely endless. Farms could install a couple as alternatives to the traditional selfcatering, they could perhaps help with seasonal staff accommodation for rural hotels, or maybe you might fancy a little studio hide-away in a corner of your estate where you can go to escape and pretend to be a Hobbit. The demo-model at Lagavulin is certainly blessed with the sort of sea view that dreams are made of.

Tag: accommodation storm pod lagavulin stormcats