FAMILY BEREAVEMENT
SALES PAUSED
We are taking a break due to a family bereavement.
We have new stock being carefully crafted and we will be back with our sumptuous scarves soon.
You can email us at applecrosscroft@gmail.com
Thank you for your understanding at this difficult time.
Anyone can wear our scarves!
However you identify, feel the freedom of wearing a scarf where design transcends labels. You won’t find us defining our scarves in gender terms. If you would enjoy wearing or gifting our scarves then they are for you.
BEALACH NA BÀ 130cm square SCARF
Bealach na Bà
Shop THIS SCARFFeatured product
HeartStorm comes in three square scarf sizes, 65cm, 95cm and 130cm.
Our HeartStorm design has a piano composition composed specially for it by Suzanne Gillies of 'Garden Cottage Compositions' You can listen to it on our HeartStorm Collection page.
A beautiful and expressive design inspired by the peaks and troughs of emotion.
✓ 100% silk
✓ 90cm x 90cm
✓ Hand-rolled hem
✓ Designed in Applecross
✓ Wearable art
Our luxury silk scarves exude style with the fluidity to wear with your own creative flourish. As with all our 100% silk scarves the drape is glorious and our 90cm x 90cm square affords you the freedom to express yourself.
Superb print quality reveals exquisite detail on sensuous silk twill exuding sumptuous colours in which to envelop yourself.
Wear our accessories how, when and where you want.
DESIGN STORIES • SGEULACHDAN DEALBHAIDH
Love – one word. So powerful a word that it encompasses the romantic, the platonic, the familial. Love can overcome our fear of the unknown, stimulate our desire for adventure, drive us to give ourselves completely to another. Love for self, love of other, love for place, community, nature. It represents the thrill of a greater sharing, the leaping pleasure and searing pain that come with the peaks and troughs of emotion.
In the meeting of land and sea, in the appearance of real or imagined shorelines and boundaries, the designs woven into HeartStorm represent the meeting of hearts, minds and bodies, and the cardinal points of our emotions. The intensity of love as it ebbs and flows between and within us is mirrored by the rising and falling of the imagery.
With our hearts we navigate our lives, through our heartstorms we come to know ourselves, to understand the great leviathans, formidable and mysterious, swimming within the unexplored depths of each of us.
The seas of our heartstorms are crashing, billowing breakers of desire, and the gentle, lapping caress of the tide. The power and ferocity, the calm, still mirror of the heart.
Read more stories behind our designs in both English and Gaelic here.
- Please check your spam folder and/or Promotions tab after ordering as the order confirmation may be mistaken for spam or a promotion.
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This scarf is hand-finished so the exact size will vary slightly.
- Professional dry cleaning recommended.
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Each hand-finisher will have a slightly different nuance to the way they hand roll the edges of each scarf – no two scarves will have the exact same hand-rolled edge.
- Store your silk flat, untied and out of direct sunlight. Avoid spraying with perfume and contact with rain, water and other chemicals. Entrust your silk to a professional dry cleaner when needed. Do not wrap or tie your silk in wet hair.
- We try to take our photos to show our products accurately, but please understand the actual colour may vary from your viewing device.
This scarf comes in one of our branded gift boxes including a mini leaflet sharing the story behind the design – perfect for gifting to yourself or others.
The HeartStorm design has a piano composition composed specially for it by Suzanne Gillies of 'Garden Cottage Compositions' Find out more on our dedicated collaborations page with a link to the music.
Orders in December 2023 for our square HeartStorm silk scarves will come with a free HeartStorm greeting card & envelope.
Exclusive designs, created with love for you to cherish.
Dealbhadh sònraichte, air a chruthachadh le gaol gus am faigh thu tlachd mhaireannach ann.
Four designs across three sizes. Quite the collection!
Indulgence with Versatility
We think a silk scarf can be worn any way & anywhere. Cool in the heat and warm in the cold. You can wear silk in a capital city, in the countryside or behind closed doors.
We think a silk scarf can be worn any way & anywhere. Cool in the heat and warm in the cold. You can wear silk in a capital city, in the countryside or behind closed doors.
featured
Journal | IRIS
Our flower business has formed the core of what Applecross Croft has provided customers over the last few years. While we are excited to launch our new designs for our silk scarves we will continu...
Read more
Gaelic Language, Heritage and Culture
We incorporate the place names, the animal names, the emotions and the landscape into our work and designs, and we hope that this gives our customers, friends and supporters another window through ...
Read more
Applecross is called A’ Chomraich in Gaelic, which means 'The Sanctuary', a name which dates back to the 7thcentury arrival of the Irish monk Saint Maelrubha. It is the perfect place to be inspired...
Read more
TIMELINE 2023
NEW (AD)VENTURE | IOMAIRT ÙR
In 2023, we unveil the first in our emerging line of 100% silk scarves.
Inspired by our crofting life, these indulgent, quality pieces are designed with love in Applecross in the Scottish Highlands and printed within the UK. Our silk scarves make wonderful gifts for special occasions or an indulgent gift for yourself.
Applecross Croft becomes a member of ACID and support the aims and objectives of Anti Copying In Design.
TIMELINE 2021
THE PANDEMIC | AN GALAR MÒR-SGAOILTE
With Covid came lockdown and the evaporation of freelance design work for Valerie as her clients paused business activities. Valerie had been working on personal designs for some time but this was the catalyst to push forward and look to a medium and product line to refine the designs for. There were set backs when suppliers couldn't deliver promises that pushed timelines back another year but these were battled through, plans redrawn and the process started again.
" At one point I thought I would never get the designs into production but I believed in the potential of what I was creating and kept searching until we were happy that the suppliers and companies we needed would be a good fit with us."
Valerie Hodgkinson
TIMELINE 2017
FLOWER HARVEST | AN GALAR MÒR-SGAOILTE
By 2017, Valerie and Gordon were selling cut flowers for the local Applecross market.
This stemmed from a passion for growing and a belief that the high carbon impact traditionally associated with the flower industry could be reduced by growing locally without the chemical cost.
The biodiversity on the croft has burgeoned as hedgerows, trees and plants mature.
TIMELINE 2015
GROWTH | FÀS
One of our first crops on the croft was potatoes, allowing us to turn the ground and removing the large stones as we worked.
We are fortunate to have an abundant supply of seaweed washed ashore locally during storms to help improve our sandy, stoney, soil. We are following practices that crofters have used here for generations.
TIMELINE 2014
DREAMING | AG AISLING
Developing a croft has involved dedication and developing new skills.
Valerie continued designing for freelance clients alongside croft work. In the background, she began developing her own personal graphic art style, dedicating more time to refining what she dreamt could lead to a line of products based on her love of the Highlands.
It would take dedication and consideration over several years to develop the designs and select what products would make indulgent gifts.
TIMELINE 2011
CROFTING BEGINNINGS | TOISEACH-TÒISEACHAIDH
"A croft is a small agricultural unit, most of which are situated in the crofting counties in the north of Scotland..."
Scottish Crofting Federation
The croft was assigned to us in 2011 and the long process of turning bracken, reeds and so many stones into a viable growing space began. Deer fencing the croft in 2012 was a big step forward.
" ’S e ball àitich beag a tha ann an croit, is a’ chuid as motha dhiubh sin stèidhichte anns na siorrachdan croitearachd ann an ceann a tuath na h-Alba ..."
Caidreachas Croitearachd na h-Alba
Gorgeous • collectable • luxurious
Words from our wonderful customers
"There is a timeless nature to these designs, I love that – the World needs more slow fashion."
Avril
It’s wonderful to have luxurious gift options inspired by and designed in Applecross for those special occasions. The stunning designs and colours beautifully capture the essence of Applecross.
Rose-marie
"My husband bought me one of Valerie’s beautiful scarves for my birthday. The silk twill fabric is just gorgeous and Valerie has captured the very essence of Applecross within her unique and wonderful designs"
Sue
"I am so thrilled with my beautiful scarf that Valerie designed. Almost too lovely to wear – but I shall wear it and enjoy it. Fantastic design and story telling. Lovely colours which match my coat and really good quality silk which doesn’t screw up like a rag in use & when wet."
Ruth
DESIGN STORIES | SGEULACHDAN DEALBHAIDH
Applecross Croft designs are born from heartfelt inspiration drawn from immersion in Highland life. We are passionate about the Scottish Highlands and are proud to base our lives and business here.
While the aesthetic and visual impact of the design itself is vital, the inspiration for the artwork is as important. The stories enmeshed within our designs have a purpose, evoked by the manner in which we experience the visceral landscape and the elements, by the way we interpret the area's culture, language and heritage. It draws on the memory of people and place to inspire new memories.
Each scarf might be a focal point and catalyst for discussion and understanding, continuation and renewal.
Read our Highland inspired design stories here.
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HEARTSTORM PIANO COMPOSITION
Composer: Suzanne Gillies
A collaboration inspired by our HeartStorm design.
LISTEN NOW
FÀILTE
WELCOME
Crofting in The Sanctuary
Croitearachd air A’ Chomraich