Questions we get every week

Bad for about six weeks, mid-June to the end of July, and only when the air is still. Wind over 7 mph and they're gone. There are nets and repellent by every door, the porches are screened, and nobody has ever left early because of them. May and September are the two clear months.

No signal at the steading on any network. Wifi in An Cùil, Beinn Mhòr and the Byre — fast enough for a call, not for four people streaming. Nothing in Dubh Loch or the Bothy, by design. One bar appears about twenty minutes up the hill path.

Two in four of the five cottages, £25 each for the week; free in the Bothy. Not in An Cùil. Sheep on the hill from April, so on the lead past the fank and anywhere off the shore path. Towels provided, and a hose by the byre door.

Two miles of single track, unsealed, with six passing places and a ford that runs an inch deep in normal weather. Fine in any ordinary car driven slowly. After heavy rain the ford can reach a foot; we ring you if it has, and there's a place to leave the car at the top.

Nine miles to the village shop and post office, thirty-four to a supermarket in Fort William. Most people do one big shop on the way in. The inn at Achnacarry does food Thursday to Sunday and takes bookings; the van at the head of the loch sells fish on Fridays in summer.

A third on booking, the balance six weeks before. Cancel more than six weeks out and the deposit moves to another week within the year. Inside six weeks we refund whatever we manage to re-let.

Beinn Mhòr and the Byre, yes — flat grass, a cot and highchair on request, and the shallow end of the loch is knee-deep for thirty yards. There is no fence between the steading and the water, which some parents would rather know now than on arrival. The Bothy is not the place for a toddler.