Heart Sanctuary
Our Vegan Friendly Lotus Camping Pods are situated in the beautiful village of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye. Click here to purchase LCP Gift Vouchers
They are bookable via AirBnB – follow these links to book your stay now!
The Cow Shed (dog friendly) book here
The Dog House (dog friendly) book here
The Chicken Coop (no dogs) book here
The Pigsty (no dogs) book here
To view the Lotus Camping Pods Airbnb page click here
The pods are fully equipped with en-suite shower room, double bed, small kitchen, sofa (sofa bed),dining table & chairs, fridge/freezer, bedding & towels, decking and each pod has it’s own picnic bench.
Staying in our pods will not only give you the opportunity to spend time on a working vegan croft and animal sanctuary in a breathtakingly stunning location, but into the bargain your stay will also help us to sustain the sanctuary and all who live there.
Facing your pod door you have the wonder of the flat-topped mountains known as MacLeod’s Tables, to your left you can see the beautiful Cuillin Mountain Range, and to your right you can see right over Dunvegan down to the loch, but best of all…Lotus Animal Sanctuary lies to the right – what more could you ask for to help you unwind and be at one with nature!Camping Pods.
Dunvegan is a very well served village – it has a Post Office, Filling Station with Bistro and shop, The Oldest Bakery On Skye, Old School Restaurant, The Duvegan Cafe/Restaurant, a FULLY vegan shop, grocery store, and even a motor engineer! Of course there is the splendour of Dunvegan Castle & Gardens, and the Giant Angus MacAskill Museum!
The stunning Neist Point marks the most westerly tip of the Isle of Skye and is just 11 miles miles away from the beautiful village of Dunvegan. This spectacular location is a must see for anyone visiting scenic Skye. Neist Point will take your breath away…literally! Even on a day the weather isn’t so windy, this place is so exposed the wind can always be felt howling and moaning all around us.
This is as close to nature as you will ever feel, where whales and dolphins can easily be spotted and the sunsets are some of the best you’ll ever see anywhere in the world.
The lighthouse is one of the most recognised in Scotland, and although it cannot be entered, it is well worth the walk along to it.
It does get pretty busy in tourist season, but there’s a good car park and you will still feel isolated and at peace in all this splendour.
Brace yourself for the uphill walk all the way back.
Lotus Heart Sanctuary is an inclusive Scottish based independent grassroots organisation for human & non-human animals; environmentalists, vegans, peace activists, animal/human rights activists, people following a SBNR/spiritual path – or anyone who lives a truly kind, compassionate, caring, ethically motivated and conscious lifestyle….or who wants to learn about starting to do so!
The idea for Lotus Heart Sanctuary was born in 2010 following a retreat with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Immediately after the retreat a vision board was created displaying various images including Scotland, people, cattle, veganism, therapies and tourism – this was the representation that this “sanctuary” would be a place to serve our fellow earthlings (human & non-human) and the very planet we live on – Mother Earth.
We wanted to create a space where human & non-human animals could come together and simply be as one in love, peace & harmony – just as we are meant to be. We inter-are with everything in the cosmos –Mother Earth is mother to all earthlings, plants and minerals, and we all need each other to survive – Mother Earth can survive without us, but not the other way about.
Sadly however, so many of us humans spend our entire lives completely rejecting this factAt Lotus our ethos is to spread as much love, positive energy and awareness as we can.
With Lotus Heart we have created a platform for everyone who shares our dream of a greener, kinder, fairer, more compassionate, inclusive and conscientious world.
There are further ongoing plans to be implemented, and we are constantly growing and developing new little Lotuses – so please keep checking back with our website & social media to see what’s new.
We have various not-for-profit plant-based “off-shoots” to our little Lotus – not only do they generate income to sustain the sanctuary, but they also allow us to offer help & support to individuals and raise awareness around various issues such as the climate crisis, world hunger, veganism, mental health, holistic well-being, human & animal rights , and engaged living.
At Lotus Animal Sanctuary we provide a safe space for a variety of non-human animals to come together and simply “be”!
The animal sanctuary is a safe haven and forever home to animals in need of rescue, love, care and shelter.
The animals residing at Lotus will give many of our visitors a real opportunity to interact with them; something our visitors may otherwise not have that opportunity to do. This is a really important step in helping to enlighten and change the perspective many people hold around certain species of animals.
The Lotus residents will serve as a reminder of the sentience and emotional capacity of each and every animal – a far cry from the packaged & barcoded supermarket “products” they become.
Through meeting the animals, adults and children alike will be able to clearly identify that these species have exactly the same needs, emotions and behaviours that they see and feel from the companion animals many of them will share their homes with.
Regardless of species, all animals have exactly the same strong desire to live their lives and care for their babies! These animals have the ability to give and receive love, the desire to be with family and friends, the ability to grief and be sad, to feel pain and terror, to experience pleasure & happiness, to play and be mischievous – they are non-human animals just like our cats and dogs, and we are human animals – we are all earthlings who are interconnected and all existing together on planet earth – we are one – animals are not here for us, they are here with us!
Always remember, the only difference between species is human perception.
A big focus for Lotus Animal Sanctuary has always been on cattle.
There was a requirement for a sanctuary in Scotland who would provide a forever home for cows, bullocks and calves. Some Scottish sanctuaries would take highlanders, but in 2016 when Lotus rescues began, no Scottish sanctuaries would take other breeds of cows; so all the cows rescued by Lotus had to make the long journey south to sanctuaries in England. Prince was the exception to the rule as Lynn paid to have him stay here in Scotland on private land where Bodhi and Tara later joined him – but all others went down south.
We will always aim to welcome other species, and we do have sheep, but we want to make sure that Lotus will always have space and an open door for cattle in Scotland.
A purpose built cattle shed was beautifully erected in 2019 to specifically cater to the needs of these large and beautiful animals.
Ultimately, everything comes down to perception – this sanctuary exists to challenge and rebuild the way we’ve been conditioned to view certain animals, alongside providing cohesive and important information about animal rights, the huge impact animal agriculture has on world hunger, our environment, and how to successfully go about leading a compassionate, healthy and cruelty-free lifestyle.