Skyeskyns

Clive and Lydia Hartwell set up Skyeskyns in 1983 after looking for a use for sheepskins that were otherwise going to waste on Skye crofts. Now guided by the second generation of the Hartwell family, it remains Scotland's only commercial sheepskin tannery, based at Lochbay in Waternish on the island's north-west coast. The tannery uses wool-on tanning methods and vintage machinery from the 1920s and 1930s, curing skins with mimosa tree bark rather than chrome. Waste from the process is composted and returned to the surrounding croft land. Visitors can walk through the working tannery and showroom without booking, seven days a week, and see rugs, slippers and clothing made from the hides on site.