The Workshop, Bridge House

The Workshop is one of three self-contained lets inside Bridge House, the white house where Mill Road crosses the glen at Laxey. It is the ground-floor one, a single bedroom, fitted out far more sharply than the plain frontage lets on.

Its entrance is at the side of the house, under the Bridge House nameplate and the island’s self-catering plaque, and it is yours alone. From across the valley the house shows white against the trees, the stone arches of the bridge behind it. The other two lets share the grounds.

Gloss kitchen, glass table, blue sofa

Inside, the plan is open. A white gloss kitchen with a built-in oven takes one wall, a round glass table and moulded chairs sit in the light, and a deep corner sofa faces the television. Pale board runs underfoot. There is a dishwasher, a coffee machine, a washing machine and a tumble dryer, and a desk if work follows you over.

The double, and the sofa that folds out

One bedroom, with a double bed dressed in teal and grey and a lamp on either side. The sofa in the living room makes up into a second bed, taking the party to four. The shower room is white and modern, a walk-in enclosure behind glass, with robes and toiletries left out and electric blankets for cold nights.

Up the glen, down to the water

Mill Road climbs the valley towards the great red waterwheel that brings most visitors to Laxey. The shore lies the other way, at the foot of the village rather than on the doorstep, so there is a walk in it whichever way you set off.

A pair, or four at a push

Two people get a well-equipped flat with the glen outside the window. Four fit with the sofa bed made up, though anyone wanting sand at the end of the road should look nearer the beach. For the wheel and the glen paths, this is the right end of the village to start from.