Compton and Faith Mackenzie
The MacKenzies rented Eilean Aigas for £450 per annum from December 1930. As his wife Faith recalled:
- "On the north side rugged purple and grey cliffs flanked the narrow, turbulent river, small pine trees hung at all angles over the water from rock crevices. Walking against the stream up on the grassy path of the cliff, you suddenly went downhill and came upon the same river tranquil as a pool."
They had to keep the place heated for seven out of twelve months of the year and the ceiling of one of the rooms once collapsed on Compton while he was asleep. However, Faith also recollected that the garden was particularly beautiful:
- "Free for nearly three years from all restraint, climbing roses had scaled the heights... the ground was a carpet of tulips: Iris germanica in every possible variety... The acacias in the sunk garden, now big trees, filled the air with their scent... Dear God! This was a garden in a dream."
They left in May 1933, in violation of the lease. Compton MacKenzie was of Jacobite sympathies and, like the Sobieski Stuarts, a Roman Catholic convert.
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