A place as breathtaking as Bosta Beach on the island of Great Bernera, looking towards the small islands and Little Bernera. The sun, the sea, and the cry of seagulls in the wind. Whites, greens and pinks in warm summer sands, the waves peaceful tidings of an unknown future.
To bury the dead in a place like this seems purely romantic and in a way it is. But it is also a necessity, the soil is poor and thin in the Outer Hebrides. The bury their dead in the sand wherever possible, and as far away as possible from the small settlements. Graveyards are a world apart here and almost always at the end of a road.
The graveyard in Bosta is situated a few meters above the beach. The views are breathtaking and in any other country bars and restaurants would have been built here to create an income from tourism. People in the Outer Hebrides obviously have a different mindset, a different sense of values.
But it certainly made their chaste Sunday visits to the graveyards a thing of beauty, not just sorrow.
On Là na Sàbaid, the day of the Lord, when worldly amusements are considered improper, a visit to the graveyard can be a sight of beauty and joy, at lest at Taigh Bostadh.
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Find more stories from graveyards in the the Outer Hebrides in Nellie Merthe Erkenbach’s inspirational Scotland for Quiet Moments.
Graveyards of Scotland 
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