Scotland’s ‘smallest house’ gets makeover after storm damage

By Elizabeth Hunter

A tiny replica cottage dubbed “Scotland’s smallest house” which sits in the middle of a loch has been given a makeover.

Broons House in Lairg was built on an island on Loch Shin in the 1990s as part of a festival.

The small “house” - too small to inhabit - has since become one of the area’s most beloved landmarks.

Its existence and fake history created by locals has fooled visitors and even TV news shows.

Measuring just 2 m by 2 m, a team of carpenters painstakingly constructed a replica after the original was damaged by repeated storms.

The renovated replacement was then loaded onto a motorized dinghy and sailed across to the sliver of land.

Dean Fraser, owner of Lairg-based Tuck’s Joinery, built the new house in his workshop before ferrying it to the island.

“It was in desperate need of repairing,” said Dean. “Once I looked at it further it was just needing a complete new house.

“We didn’t really have any idea how we were going to get it out there - I thought I’d have to build a pontoon to take it out on!”

When it was built it was given an invented history that it belonged to a poacher named Jock Broon in 1824.

Locals claimed a laird gifted him the island in return for lessons in whisky distilling - giving the house its name.

The fake history fooled many visitors - and even featured on TV after producers believed the back story.

In reality, the house was built by locals for a parade around 30 years ago for the Lairg Gala.

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But locals couldn’t bear to part with it, so placed it on the sliver of land.

Dean spent several days constructing an exact replica of the house in his workshop, adding PVC siding to make it watertight to avoid rot in the years to come.

Then his team of three loaded it up onto his small boat, and held on tight while they sailed it towards the island.

“We had to consider the elements - how to make it watertight when it’s on top of a loch,” said Dean.

“That was the reason we put PVC siding on it, so it will be a lot more weather-resistant than just painted plywood.

“We had to wait for a nice day to actually go out and do it - we were trying not to drop it in the loch!

“Thankfully, it fit onto the boat, which saved us a lot of time.

“There’s iron cemented into the stones on the island, so we fit it between that, and put structural screws into the timber framing, so it shouldn’t fly away.”

Dean and his team hope that this iteration of the Broons House will last for decades to come - and are pleased to have been a part of the local legend.

“We’re hoping that this one, with PVC siding and a little bit more time and care put into it, should outlive the last one,” he said.

“It is a landmark in the area - tourists, and people from local villages will stop and take photos of it.

“I’ve got family over in Canada that are around 90 that are pleased to see it restored, and even they’ve taken a bit of pride in me doing this.

“It’s good to be a part of something that’s so well-liked and well-spoken about - it’s a nice feeling.”