Allanbank is tucked away in a secluded spot in the attractive Black Isle village of Rosemarkie. The house has been recently renovated and offers a high standard of accommodation in a mix of contemporary and traditional styles: all newly finished in March 2009.

Attention to detail is apparent in the interior design with the use of Farrow and Ball and Zoffany colours, fine Egyptian linen, unique contemporary dining room furniture (yet with the cosy wood burning stove) and a well-appointed and immaculate kitchen featuring a Rangemaster Dual Fuel cooker and Whirlpool fridge.

The house is split-level with a large first floor lounge opening out to the mature garden that surrounds the house, and has a spectacularly placed deck overlooking the sea and village. The decked area to the west of the house is perfect for barbecues, or just for sitting and relaxing in the evening sun.

There are sandy cliffs opposite the house, which are home to thousands of rooks in autumn - their chattering such a feature of Rosemarkie at this time of year.

Just a short two-minute walk from the house is a long sandy beach, which is a great place for swimming and castle building. Overlooking the beach are tennis courts, a children's play park, a café and picnic tables. Five minutes along the road is a links golf course with club house that is open to the public.

Rosemarkie has a pub, a shore-side restaurant, a unique Pictish Museum,  and village store: all within a short walk of the house.

Just above the house is the mysteriously named Fairy Glen. The glen is well wooded with beech, rowan, ash and oak, and carpeted with bluebells and primroses in the spring. There is a millpond that is at least two hundred years old and was once a source of ice for the fish-houses in the village. Look out for dippers bobbing in the stream around here. A path leads to the first of the Fairy Glen's waterfalls - an attractive twin falls. Just a short distance further on is the second and final falls, another twin falls. It is called Fairy Glen as there was a tradition of making offerings to the fairies at the waterfalls on May 1st!

There is a pleasant shore-side walk along to the next village of Fortrose. Here you will find the excellent award-winning restaurant The Anderson - It also boasts an amazing whisky and Belgian beer bar. Don't miss it!  Close by is the newly opened Eilean Dubh restaurant, specialising in locally sourced products.

Finally, your holiday on The Black Isle would not be complete without seeing the dolphins. You can take an informative and educational boat trip from Cromarty, with EcoVentures, that goes out into the Moray Firth and tracks them. However, the easiest way to see the resident dolphins is to head to the lighthouse at Chanonry Point in Fortrose - here you may very well see the dolphins passing close to the shore as they follow the returning tide and salmon up the firth.

The Black Isle also offers horse riding, quad biking and paintballing. There are the well-known and exciting mountain biking trails at Red Rock Learnie which has routes for all abilities: this is about a 20-minute cycle from Allanbank.