Built in the mid-1950s as an MOD early warning station, Balnakeil Craft Village was intended to be a front line defence in the event of a nuclear attack. Thankfully the buildings were never needed, and in the 1960s a new community of crafts people and artists began to transform the buildings into homes and workshops.

To this day the village is renowned for its creative outpouring, with artists, wood workers, jewellers and many different kinds of craftspeople offering unique handmade gifts and mementos to take home.