Shared Connections
Welcome Ties Between Two Harbour Homes
The Isle of Harris Distillery was founded by a man long connected to the island by the name of Anderson Bakewell. Better known to us all simply as ‘Burr’, his relationship with Harris, and a small island off its coast called Scarp, stretches back more than fifty years.
Burr first arrived here as a young man, returning again and again, drawn by the landscape, the people, the culture, and the deep sense of continuity that defines island life.
Over time, Harris itself became not just a place he loved, but a place he felt responsible for, and one whose slow but steady depopulation he witnessed at close hand across the decades.
When Burr conceived the idea of establishing a distillery in Tarbert, it was never about simply making whisky, it was about creating something that could endure.
From the very beginning, Isle of Harris Distillery was imagined as a social enterprise as much as a commercial one: a way to provide multi-generational local employment and be a catalyst for positive change in the community, contributing quietly but materially to the long-term resilience of this special place.
His defining idea and intent still runs through the harbour-side building which now stands today.
Burr’s guiding hand and influence is felt not only in the distillery’s purpose, but in its details. His belief in legacy and continuity is woven into the fabric of the place through values, materials and design, perhaps most notably in his family motto Esse Quam Videri…To Be Rather Than Seem To Be, which is cast into the glass base of all our whisky and gin bottles.
That same philosophy carries through the spirit produced here: authentic, elemental, and honest. And, it is from this same outlook, expressed so clearly here by the shores of our home village, that Burr’s next chapter on the island naturally followed.
A little further south, by another harbour entirely, that philosophy found new form through Rodel House. Drawn to its setting and significance, Burr saw an opportunity not to remake the past, but to restore it thoughtfully.
Once the historic heart of Harris, Rodel has long been a place of gathering, culture and continuity, and the house stands as part of that wider story.
Following four years of careful restoration, Rodel House now welcomes guests in much the same spirit as the distillery: open, generous and rooted in respect for place. Original character has been retained and revealed, with contemporary comfort introduced quietly and with restraint. The result is a house that feels lived-in rather than curated, elegant without ever feeling removed from its surroundings.
Hospitality here mirrors the same values that shape the distillery. Guests are invited to settle in, to live well, and to experience Harris at a slower, more attentive pace. Whether sharing food prepared by their private chef, walking from the door to St Clement’s Church, or simply watching the shifting light across the Sound of Harris through the old paned windows, the emphasis is on presence rather than spectacle.
For those who first encounter the island through our spirits, Rodel House offers a continuation of that relationship.
Just forty-five minutes from Tarbert, it provides the space to deepen the Harris experience through a beautifully conceived refuge, fresh local produce, a peat fire, and a well-earned pour of The Hearach or Isle of Harris Gin, as the exemplary accommodations and wider island sets the rhythm.
Together, the harbour homes of the Isle of Harris Distillery and Rodel House reflect shared connections and purpose envisioned by Burr. Both invite people to experience Harris honestly, thoughtfully and with care, continuing a long tradition of stewardship that places the island, its people and its future at the centre of it all.