KINLOCH LODGE - Key Persons

When you step through the front doors of Kinloch, you are walking into Isabella Macdonald's childhood home. "There used to be a door from where the bar is now into our family sitting room." Guests would often wander in, where they might have been greeted by Isabella or one of her three siblings if her parents, Godfrey and Claire, were busy seeing to other guests. "Once, my sister Merial took a booking at age 4. She got everything right. Apart from the date!" After years working in Edinburgh and London, she found that the pull back home to Skye was too great to ignore and returned, taking over the day-to-day running of the hotel from her parents. The history of Kinloch and that of the Macdonald family is intertwined, something Isabella is very grateful for: she can chart her family history back to the 9th century. The hotel is full of "family memorabilia" that tell the stories of clan members past, like Isabella's favourite, Sir James Macdonald, whose portrait hangs on the dining room wall. "In the drawing room, you'll find a lock of his hair. His life was incredible. When he died in Rome at just 25, they reported that he was fluent in seven languages, but no one in Europe could identify the seventh: it was Gaelic." The family spirit remains strong at Kinloch - you might spy Isabella's parents enjoying a bowl of fresh mussels al fresco on warm day, or her sons working at the hotel on their school holidays. "I love sharing Kinloch with others. It is truly such a special place, and I have so much pride: in our uniqueness, the sense of belonging we create, our history and the warmth of our team."

Often referred to around Kinloch as "the oracle of everything we have at our doorstep," Mitchell Partridge is happiest when he's in the great outdoors. "Fly fishing, foraging - I've always done these things, even as a very small child. My father gave me my first knife at 7. My surname means that I come from a long line of gamekeepers." Even in his downtime, you can find him fishing or picking his dinner, or pickling and cooking his own foraged foods. Coming to Skye from the East Coast of Scotland more than two decades ago, Mitchell is a fixture at Kinloch, where he leads guests on outdoor pursuits: fishing, foraging, stalking and wild walks. Those on a day out with Mitchell can expect "a day of really good fun. It's a physical day - although I can cater for everyone, from toddlers to those in their advanced years - but you'll know you've been outside." He promises "a rosy glow on your cheeks and that you'll be looking forward to that lovely gin and tonic." But some of his favourite clients are the littlest ones. "Children are the best," he says. "You could have a child that one day grows up to be the next Attenborough. Their time on Skye where they found frog spawn or cooked clams they dug up on the beach - that might be the thing that ignited a spark." Conservation is at the heart of everything Mitchell does. He's a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, actively monitoring Skye's white-tailed eagle population, and is a trained marine mammal medic who carries out the rescue of seals, dolphins and whales. When asked what a ghillie really does, Mitchell sums it up perfectly: "We are the unofficial custodians of the countryside."

If you've ever phoned Kinloch, there's a good chance Rachel's cheerful voice has greeted you on the other end of the line. A fixture at Kinloch since the early 1990s, Rachel would often bring her children - who are now grown-up - along to work with her. "The handyman would come and watch them while I showed guests around and made teas," she says. Rachel has lived on Skye for all of her life. She was brought up in Camard, further down the Sleat peninsula, as one of seven children. Her father was a crofter, originally from the Isle of Harris who loved music and played the box. Rachel's upbringing on a very different Skye was idyllic. "You knew everybody. It was a smaller place then, quieter. We went to church on Sundays. We weren't even allowed to watch television on a Sunday - at least until my dad left the house, and then my mum would let us!" Rachel has known the Macdonalds since childhood and was in primary school with Isabella and her sister. While undoubtedly some things about Kinloch have changed since Rachel's early days - "we used to hand-write all our correspondence to our guests," she said, "and we didn't have the en-suite bathrooms" - much of what she has always valued about the place hasn't. "I love it here. I love all the guests, I love the work, I love the Macdonalds. It's such a happy place to be." The feeling is mutual. Claire Macdonald might have said it best in her book, Lifting the Lid: "No one is indispensable, they say, but there are exceptions and Rachel is one of them."