Clan Donald Land Trust estate sold
On 29 August 2025, the Clan Donald Lands Trust announced that it had received a “large number of offers” for the Clan Donald Estate that was put up for sale in August 2025 (see BBC report here).
According to the agents Strutt and Parker, a sale has been agreed for the Clan Donald Estate on the Isle of Skye (see image above) (and see my previous blog on this topic)
In the Autumn 2025 edition of the Clan Donald US newsletter, By Sea by Land, the Chief of Clan Donald, Godfrey Macdonald who had been a Trustee of the Clan Donald Lands Trust but resigned, wrote the following
Offers for both the Estate and Centre closed on August 28th and an offer for both properties has since been accepted. The sale is still subject to legal completion, and – while the purchasers have been identified to Claire and me – the process is bound by strict confidentiality at this stage. I completely understand the uncertainty this creates, but I want to assure you that there is every reason to be hopeful.
The proposed sale has causeed a bit of a stooshie among members of Clan Donald.
As of today, no advance notice nor change of ownership has been recorded in the Land Register Application Record and thus any sale is still to conclude and the new owner’s identity is not in the public domain.
But who might the owner be?
There is a clue.
On 3 November 2025, a company called Armadale Estate Ltd. was incorporated with a registered office address at Armadale, Sleat, ISLE OF SKYE IV45 9RS. No such postcode exists and this seems to be an error in the filing documents. The postcode IV45 8RS, however, covers a number of properties in Armadale including the offices of the Clan Donald Lands Trust.
Armadale Estates Ltd is a company owned by Amillemont Ltd. and has two Directors, Michael Hutchison and his daughter, Annelise Hutchison. Both are Canadian. Annelise resides in London and Michael resides in Switzerland. Michael Hutchison is a real estate developer and President of Huron Clean Energy.
Amillemont Ltd is wholly owned by La Parole AG, a company registered in Zug, Switzerland. La Parole AG is also a member of La Parole UK LLP along with Annalise Hutchison.
Beyond that, I know nothing.
Sold to the highest bidder 🙁 Thus has to stop 🙁
What, if any, connection does Michael Hutchison have with the Huron Confederacy? Is he, perhaps, its representative in the Swiss Confederation?
Outrageous that it’s been sold. The secrecy suggests to me ‘dodgy’. When I visited Armadale from Australia Sept ‘24, I felt the view over to the mainland was stunningly beautiful and thought property developers will be scheming to get their hands on this.
If Armadale cant be rescued as I hope it will be, I do hope the new owner is someone who is a philanthropist and keeps and protects Armadale’s heritage into the future. It would be devastating to me to see a whole swathe of luxury homes or hotels etc built on probably the last of Clan MacDonald land.
If so, it will feel to me like the last fatal cut to Clan Donald, its culture, & of the ongoing quest by others who have coveted MacDonald land since Somerled in 1158
So… does anyone know 1. Who gets to pocket the 25 million pounds? 2. What if anything, will that money be used for?
Where do you get the £25 million figure from? No sale price has been revealed as no sale has actually yet taken place. The proceeds of the sale will belong to Clan Donald Lands Trust.
The £25m was the subject of another of Andy’s excellent articles and has no relation to the two sales of both the south Sleat Estate and Armadale Castle which were marketed for a total of under £10m . see this https://andywightman.scot/2025/11/you-were-never-meant-to-know-about-the-25-million-estate/
See also the Clan Donald Lands Trust’s 2025 statement on the sales.
https://armadalecastle.com/statement/
https://www.struttandparker.com/properties/estate-farms-and-land/for-sale/inverness-shire/isle-of-skye