Retired postie Alison Bain and her husband Duncan do not have to go far to vote – just a few steps to the conservatory.
The polling station in the tiny Highland hamlet of Opinan in Ross-shire is part of their four-bedroom detached house.
Presiding officer Mrs Bain, 60, and her 50-year-old husband, a joiner turned polling clerk for the day, shift the sofa and a few tables to make space for the voting booth.
Then they settle down in comfy armchairs to wait for the 163 friends and neighbours entitled to vote, enjoying the views over the sea to Skye as they do so.
Mrs Bain said: “It’s certainly better than sitting in a wee hall somewhere. We’re comfortable, and people seem to quite like it.
“The presiding officer makes the tea, of course.”
The couple walk up the road to the house – simply known as No 11 Opinan – to make sure the signs directing voters are present and correct before voting themselves in the spacious conservatory at the front.
Mrs Bain said: “There are 163 voters who can vote here and we are on firs -name terms with most of them, although there was one person who voted at the last general election and we had no idea who they were.
“It turned out to be someone who had just moved into the area that week.”
The house, which has been used as a polling station for about 40 years, has been in Mrs Bain’s family for six generations and previously belonged to her father, John Mackenzie, the presiding officer before her.
The previous polling station was in the school, which closed in 1964.
Yacht charter company owners Peter Henderson, 63, and his wife Mary, 60, travelled the three miles from Badachro to cast their votes.
Mr Henderson said: “It’s great coming here as we always get a blether and it’s a lot handier than if we had to travel into Gairloch to vote at the village hall – that would be six miles, double the journey.”
