Thornwood, Yorktown, Pleasantville, Mount Kisco, Briarcliff Manor, Chappaqua, Armonk Selling and Listing Homes, Expertise in Negotiation, Staging Professional, Certified Buyers Agent Iona is a full time Licensed Real Estate Professional with over 20 years of experience in the real estate market. Whether buying, selling or renting, Iona brings her knowledge, professionalism and intuitive approach to working with her clients. It takes more than just knowing the real estate market to sell a house. Bringing out the greatest value in your property means knowing how to make the most of it. Years of experience and an eye for detail have taught Iona to see the elements that create a beautiful and inviting environment. To enhance its marketability, Iona will work with you to highlight all that your property has to offer. In addition, Iona brings consumer marketing experience to the process and will take advantage of social media and digital tools to help promote your property's online visibility and sale.

Buying a home is a very personal decision and Iona believes that her clients recognize their "new home" when they see it. Iona will never try to sell you... We have worked with many professional real estate agents in the past and Iona Miller really stands out. We would highly recommend her to anyone who is selling or buying a home. Her client's best interests are first and foremost and she really knows and understands the intricacies of the real estate business. Iona recently sold my mother's home in a very tough market with real dedication, expertise and professionalism. She was extremely patient with my mother and explained the process to her every step of the way to make sure she felt informed and comfortable at all times. We were particularly impressed with her dedication, tenacity and human touch. Iona is a realtor who goes the extra mile for her clients as a matter of course and is committed to delivering superb client service. We will certainly engage Iona again for any future real estate business.

We're working with Iona Miller to buy a home and plan on her to sell our current home as well. Iona is precise, clear, thoughtful, knowledgeable and works round the clock. We love working with her and highly recommend her if you need to sell or buy a home. I could not be happier with the work Iona Miller did on my behalf. I had already moved out of the house when I gave her the listing. It could have stayed vacant for a long time and would have cost me so much money in mortgage payments. Instead, Iona moved very quickly telling me what needed to be done to get it ready for sale, and she even chipped in doing some of the hands on work to make it shine. I felt that she had my back and was on my side every step of the way. She answers her phone day and night, is thoughtful, responsive and knows her stuff. I cannot recommend her highly enough. My husband and I are very grateful for your expertise in staging our home for sale. Thanks for spending so much time going through every room and making suggestions to help us present this home in its best light.

We worked really hard to get it all done. We started off slow but it soon became apparent to both of us that your ideas were winners and we got very excited about getting it all done. I am awed by your knowledge and its application. Island of IonaThe island of Iona is a popular excursion for the many visitors to Mull. They take the long (and, inevitably, a bit winding) single-track road along the Ross of Mull – the southerly promontory of this quite large island. handyman in portland orIt’s the most popular way to get to the Iona, though there are also mainland operators running boat trips . handyman services in pittsburgh paBut taking that long road west certainly takes a chunk out of your day. business for sale laredo texas

So remember that when route-planning.Take the Long Road across MullLet’s say you start from Tobermory. You can enjoy the Sound of Mull, Loch na Keal and the spectacular road that runs by the base of the Griben cliffs (pictured here) and then turns inland to drop down to Loch Scridain, then it’s off round the head and finally you face west for Iona. handyman services birminghamNow just relax and watch for oncoming vehicles, also oncoming sea eagles. list of handyman tasks(We saw a hen harrier, but it’s not the same….) business for sale apopkaStill a wee way to go.business for sale crystal falls mi Eventually, watch out for sheep as you drive through the straggling community of Bunessan (nearly there).

It’s one of those places where the sheep enjoy the pavements, the carparks, the centre of the road and everywhere else. And finally, you arrive at Fionnphort, where the toilets are deeply grubby (you have been warned) and the car park very large, both features indicating the popularity of the island of Iona. (Phew, thought we’d never get here.)Iona ferry - five minutes from FionnphortThe island of Iona is best explored on foot. Just as well, as only residents are allowed to take their cars across. So that explains the large car at Fionnphort. The crossing takes about five minutes. On the way, the most conspicuous feature is the view of the restored abbey in the shadow of the rocky dome of Dun I – the curiously named island high point (pictured here, view from ferry, with Abbey on left).It is usual when writing about Iona to mention a sense of spirituality and how many people make the ‘pilgrimage’ repeatedly and are drawn back. Aside from the spiritual component it is the convention to attach to the island, it is plausible that other visitors like the white sands and the tiny bays, the views from the top of Dun I, the distant colours of Mull and the glitter and wildness of the Sound of Iona and around the islands like Staffa – it’s the small narrow smudge on the left

, in the picture here – and all of this is enjoyed without any kind of hocus-pocus or religious gloss. In short, the island of Iona is a lovely place and you can interpret it according to your own spiritual needs. It’s got terrible midges, by the way. How these monks must have suffered. Midges and Viking raiders. Iona Abbey, from the ferry. Distant view of Staffa. So, you leave the ferry and have a choice. Turn right to wander along to the Abbey. Turn left and eventually the road goes west across the island – eventually – via a sheep-nibbled golf course. The track peters out at ‘The Bay at the Back of the Ocean’ – Gaelic Camas Cuil an t-Saimh (pictured here.) The white smudge above the shoreline, left of centre, is a 'spouting cave'. The Bay at the BAck of the Ocean, Iona. The Scottish Colourists and IonaHere on the island of Iona’s far side, you’ll probably notice hints (no, I mean tints) of the ever-changing colours associated with the Scottish Colourists – Peploe, Cadell, Fergusson and Hunter.

Francis Cadell, after his WWI service, came here to recover, then was later joined by Peploe. A distinctive body of work was the result: instantly recognisable, with rocks, sand, sea, and also Mull like a great battleship often anchored on the horizon. These canvases, naturally, fetch high prices. Actually, it’s up at the north end, with its own little selection of beaches and coves, where you’ll think you’ve walked into a Colourists’ exhibition. Iona, interior, looking towards Mull. And if you decide to circle northwards to find more beaches, you’ll find a little Iona mystery. North of the big bay mentioned above, there are little jewels of coves, where discreet bathers remove more than enough clothing to create midge paradise when it’s warm and still. But the mystery is how few paths there are. It’s momentarily wild country. Even Dun I ducks down out of sight and navigation is (again momentarily) uncertain. Unless you got here good and early, an irrational fear about the last ferry may come to mind – so good is this illusion of wilderness.

This sense of Hebridean wildness is made worse if you have already, say, spent a day on Ulva, with its friendly wee notices positively inviting you to explore. Unless, it’s all part of a plot by the National Trust of Scotland on Iona to herd you back to the Abbey? Island of Iona, ferry leaving for Fionnphort, MullThe Mull ferry leaving Iona – a five minute journey. In summary, the island of Iona is lovely. Go for the spiritual component or just the light and colours. Don’t go for a drink at the Argyll Hotel at 5 o’ clock though, as they don’t want your business. They send you round to the Martyr’s Bay Restaurant, Cafe and Bar, which is nice of them. (‘Look’, I said, ‘I’m not being a martyr…I just want a beer.’)And then you finish your drink, as you can see the ferry crossing the Sound of Iona. From there it’s back along the long road across Mull. You may leave with the sense that there is more to see. Well, there is – the old Iona marble quarry and a spouting cave for a start.

So, take your sketch book the next time and stay over. The island has an accommodation choice.That link (several lines above) takes you to Mull information. And there’s more on getting to Mull on this link. (Crikey – so much to read!) Isle of Mull - great for seafood, sea eagles and sea views. The Isle of Mull is fun. It's got great seafood, slow roads, boat trips, otters, whales and sea eagles so big they blot out the sky (apparently). Mull Ferry from Oban, across the 'sea-roads' of Argyll. The Mull ferry from Oban is part of the Mull experience. Brilliant views of the Lismore Lighthouse and that really is Ben Nevis way up Loch Linnhe. The St Columba brandStill here? Just as background, here’s quick historic canter through the development of the St Columba brand, as this character is crucial to the story of Iona. In the 6th century an Irish high-born monk called Columba has a falling-out (in Ireland) with another career-driven monk over copying some religious tract or other, over which – can you believe – a pitched battle is fought and much blood spilled in AD561.

Columba feels bad about the whole affair. That, plus the excommunication memo he got from the rest of the guys in the firm, sends him off to Scotland, where he fetches up on the island of Iona. Determined to get his curriculum vitae looking better, he re-writes his sales pitch and goes off to convert the Pictish tribes living in eastern Scotland. They, up to that point, had been happy with the service they had been getting from Druids. Columba gets them a better deal, as he tells them he has the ear of the big boss upstairs.He keeps head office on the island of Iona, but starts several branches in various other parts of Scotland. Eventually, there’s a big training operation there as well as a publishing arm. (The best-seller was ‘The Book of Kells’.) While on a sales mission, he even scares away some beastie in the River Ness that was about to attack a swimmer, the whole affair later contributing to the Loch Ness Monster legend. Columba then dies in AD597 with a tremendous reputation for impressive tricks – casting demons out of milk pails, restoring spilt milk into milk pails and several that don’t involve milk at all. 

All goes well even when Columba isn't around and the business prospers at the Iona HQ until Vikings arrive in AD794. They are aggressive operators and under the ‘Pagans-r-Us’ competitive brand they make several corporate raids. Anyway, much later on, local tribes become clans and want a piece of the action. They like the longevity of the Columba brand, which has withstood the unwelcome Viking bids.The whole tale is so inspiring that around 1200AD Raghnall, son of Somerled, the Lord of the Isles, encourages Benedictine monks to come here and also establishes St Ronan’s Nunnery close by, which at its peak housed up to 400 Augustinian nuns. (Yes, monks and nuns in proximity, isolated little island….that’s funny, I thought the same…) The ruins of this building still stand.Basically, Iona Abbey today has a mediaeval base, though like all other such establishments it fell into ruin after the Reformation. It has now been restored and is the focus of the Iona Community, an ecumenical group who do lots of practical good works.