Vandals have trashed a popular craft shop in the centre of a Highland town.
Stock and equipment were smashed after entry was forced to The Craft Room in Fort Augustus in the early hours of Sunday morning.
But the “devastated” owners have refused to be beaten – and have plans to reopen again, possibly as soon as today, after a massive clean-up.
The shop includes two separate businesses – Craftiness and Morag’s Crafty Bothy, which between them offer a range of crafting items for sale and activities.
Angela MacCormack has operated Craftiness in Fort Augustus for almost a year and found out about the forced entry when police phoned her at 6am on Sunday.
She spent much of the time since trying to clear up.
Mrs MacCormack said: “It was just chaos. They’ve just gone through smashing things up.
“It was all just such a mess.”
The perpetrators appear to have forced entry through the front of the shop and gone through smashing up stock as they went.
They even threw ceramic paint at a window and smashed other windows in the shop’s toilets.
The damage was so extensive that it was hard to tell if anything had been stolen.
But despite the shop stocking some valuable items, it appears that nothing was taken.
Mrs MacCormack said: “It’s difficult to say but there doesn’t appear to have been anything taken.
“We have two tills and Morag’s was completely smashed up – but it still had the money in it in the morning.
“It wasn’t much, just a float, but it was still there.
“It was obviously just about causing as much damage as possible.”
Mrs MacCormack said she couldn’t understand why the shop had been targeted – saying there was “no animosity” with anyone in the village.
The businesses both shared information about the damage on social media – prompting an outpouring of support from locals.
Mrs MacCormack said: “We’re not going to get down. It’s devastating but we will not be beaten and we hope to be open again as soon as possible.”
A spokeswoman for the police confirmed they are aware of the incident and inquiries are ongoing.
