My escape to the Scottish Argyle coast.

Well, I am back from a wonderful week in Bute, I have to say it was simply stunning. this was our house for the 11 of us for the week, right on the lock. 

We had fishing boats every day, but I am afraid they were not biting as much as we would have liked, the best catch was my son in law Steve who caught this huge pike !!!

The house is owned by Mount Stuart house, when they tested Bluebird on the lock, they all stayed at the house and I am not surprised, she was fantastic and I would recommend to anyone. Everything you could possibly need was there and the most stunning gardens. Weddings are also held there. We had the whole of the upstairs with our own living room. We had the boat for a while and my grandson steered me all around the Lock, bless him

The Mount Stuart House is a stunner, we worth a visit, nearly every room has a zodiac theme. This is the ceiling of the great hall, I had to lie on my back on the floor to get the right picture…

The gardens were beautiful too and they have a Mary Queen of Scots exhibition on at the moment. the guides were a wealth of knowledge. Mount Stuart is a house of firsts, the first in Scotland to have an indoor swimming pool and the house dates back to the early 19th Century, It is said to have more Marble in it than any other building in the British Isles. A lot of the main house that was rebuilt after a fire was not completed due to the war. The architects that went off to fight did not come back, so as a fitting gesture, and in honour of those brave men, they did not finish off the statues and sculptures that they had started. It was used as a hospital during the war, with one of the most renown brain surgeons of the time working there. In fact, the old surgery is now a conservatory.

We took time out to visit the oldest settlement on the island, we met the farmer and his wife and had a wonderful half hour chatting and watching the lambs. 

We were lucky enough to have wonderful weather with just a couple of wet days, we visited every corner and we saw, deer, pheasants, eagles and lots of cows and lambs. the best place on the island was a wonderful cafe that sits up on the left-hand side that does the most amazing cheesecake and even allowed us to take in our Missy while we had cake and coffee most days. As you can see missy made the most of the sea air and had quite a few paddles, we couldn’t keep her out of the lock.

We then had a fantastic time 3 ferries and we were onto the Isle of Arran, were, at last, I saw the seals, there was a whole colony of them, all sunning themselves on the rocks literally 50 metres from the road. The Isle of Arran is called the Sleeping Giant as that what it looks like from the mainland.

The Isle of Arran was so beautiful, it has it all, forests, mountains, wonderful coastline and the most fantastic scenery. Not forgetting the fabulous tea rooms that again let you take the pooch in while you eat.

A quick word of warning if you are looking for Arran jumpers on the Isle of Arran, it’s the wrong place …… Much to my husband’s dismay ha ha !!

I have so many more pictures I could share but to be honest, to experience is to love as they say. Don’t miss out,

Then to cap it all it was my mums 70th on the last day there so we went out for dinner in Bute town of Rothesay, and had a cake to finish.

so a wonderful time had by all the family. Happy Birthday Mum xx