Walking The walking all around Kilmun is absolutely fantastic, and from the house itself there are half a dozen spectacular routes that take you into some magical places in the Forest Park. Puck’s Glen is unmissable, but the Ardnadam Heritage Trail, Glen Finnairt, Ardentinny Forest, and Cowal Way are also all decently marked and come highly recommended. You can do circular routes that take anything from an hour and a half to eight or nine hours. We’ve left you maps and guides in the sitting room, and more details are available from the tourist office in Dunoon.

Cycling It really is a great way to see the scenery in the area – and the topography is such that you don’t need to do much back-breaking hill work. The trips up Loch Eck, round the corner to Ardentinny, and through the pass to the Kyles of Bute are all lovely. The circular route turning left out of the house, past Strone and Ardentinny on the coast road and then through the forest to Sligrachan sees you joining the A815 on Loch Eck at the Whistlefield Inn. 15 miles or so as a round trip; there’s one steep climb of about a mile which’ll test all but the fittest, but then it’s downhill to the pub! We’ve equipped the house with 6 kid’s bikes of different sizes and a couple for grown ups

Sight-seeing Generally You are fantastically positioned to see some of the world’s most spectacular scenery. The views aren’t bad from the house itself, but drive up to Loch Fyne and down to Loch Lomond, or into the Kyles of Bute, or down the Maccrahanish / Mull of Kintyre peninsula, and you’ll see vistas to take your breath away. Enjoy the local area on foot or by bike, but if you don’t know this area of Scotland well, and you have better than 50 yard visibility, we’d really recommend you do spend a bit of time exploring it (and not just because people use fewer of our logs when they are out the house and wear the furniture out less). If the weather’s rubbish, you are 75mins from Glasgow by Ferry and M8, and less than 2 hours from Edinburgh if the traffic’s okay. They are both great cities to visit.

Benmore Botanic Gardens Only three miles away towards Loch Eck, absolutely amazing set of gardens planted and cared for originally by the Younger family (beer-age and politics) who owned Old Kilmun House for ages, and added the Victorian additions on the end of the house which we don’t own. Benmore gardens are a branch of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Awesome trees, including the tallest in Britain, and lots related to our own here; a great tea shop at the gates, too. Dogs on leads only.

Golf Strone’s pretty, 9 hole course which was designed by James Braid, is well-signposted, just over a mile away. Innellan is another nice 9 holes course, about 15 minutes away. Cowal has 18 holes and is a bit closer just above Dunoon. There’s also a 9 hole course 25 minutes away at Tighnabruich with lovely views up the Kyles of Bute. Visitors are welcome any time there isn’t a match on all three courses. You are welcome to use the four sets of golf clubs we’ve left for guests.

Fishing The River Eck is one of the most expensive trout stretches in the West of Scotland and mostly carved up by timeshare. Fortunately, though, there’s a mass of very good value options for both loch and river fishing locally, with daily and some weekly permits available from Purdies on Argyll St (open 9am to 5pm; 01369 703232). Under 16 permits are all half price. We’ve supplied half a dozen rods and some basic kit – spinning and casting – which is kept on rafters of the bike shed. Rivers – Cur (£10 a day per rod, weekly ticket available for £30), Masson (£10 a day), Ruel (£12), and Finnart (£6 per day, weekly ticket available for £18) – any legal lure, no maggots. Lochs - Dunoon Reservoir (rainbow trout £15), Loch Loskin (brown trout, £10 including boat), Loch Tarsan (brown trout £10 per rod plus another £10 for boat if you want it, weekly ticket available for £30) – all fly fishing only, all open 7 days. Loch Eck is also available.

Eating Out We are really well-served (by Scottish standards anyway) for good pubs. Whistlefield Inn and Coylet Inn, up the side of Loch Eck at 10 and 5 minutes respectively, are both well-recommended – we’ve included menus in the house
information pack. Children, but not dogs, are welcome at both. The more easily walkable pubs are both fine, too, providing big portions of good basic pub food. The Cot House, with a playground for kids, is probably the more attractive and traditional pub of the two, but it’s exactly a mile away and the Old Kilmun Hotel is a wee bit closer and a bit quieter in the high summer. Dunoon has dozens of cafes, bars, takeaways and restaurants. The Loch Fyne Oyster Bar trades a bit on reputation price-wise but is a landmark destination in these parts and only about 35 minutes away

Food Shopping The Cot House service station on the main road has a good convenience store attached, selling papers, basic groceries etc and is open long hours every day. The diner there is not really recommended, but the shop is fine, like the pub. It’s a mile away (if you are walking, take the pretty little footbridge over the river off the road to the left, 150 yards from the main road junction). Dunoon is a busy little town all through the year, and has lots of traditional shops including butcher, bakeries, hardware, little galleries, etc. Its two main supermarkets are both open seven days - Safeways on John Street till 8pm weekdays, and the Co-op on Queen St till 10pm.

Some Suggested Days Out

Inverary (33 miles) Just 45 minutes away via Loch Eck and Loch Fyne, a must-see is the Castle, seat of the Campbell Clan headed by the Duke of Argyll since 13th Century. Rebuilt in 1743, to a design in which two generations of Adams were involved, it has great history, and lovely grounds. Old Kilmun House used to be owned by Campbells and the graveyard next door to us is full of them, and also features a family mausoleum. The town of Inverary is really well laid out for visitors and three or four other attractions are worth a visit – the 126’ tall Bell Tower featuring the third heaviest ring of ten bells in the world, the jail, and the ruins of Rob Roy’s House high up on Glen Shira. Lunch at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, with its shop attached, is traditional but not cheap. For a proper historical frisson you could drive on another hour and a bit across Rannoch Moor to Glencoe -spectacular in any weather - and visit the site of the massacre which blackened the Campbell name for centuries.

The Kyles of Bute A short and quite pretty drive takes you across to the Kyles of Bute – spectacular views down to the Island of Bute itself and beyond. There is a view-finder on the A8003 which was put up to honour John’s grandfather and great uncle, inscribed to “two men who loved these hills.” Tighnabruich, which has a 9 hole golf course and a great pub, and Kames are pretty villages. Kilbride, just beyond Ticchnabruich, is a lovely sandy beach. You can’t really take a wrong turning in terms of scenery in this neck of the woods, provided you’ve got any visibility. From Colintraive (18 miles) you can take the most expensive ferry in the world (per yard) across to Robbodoch on the Island of Bute. A drive around the Kyles, plus a visit to Bute itself adds up to a full day out.

Island of Bute (18.01 miles) Accesssed via the Colintraive-Robbodoch ferry (18 miles from here), Bute is an undiscovered jewel in Scotland’s crown of islands - usually overlooked because it is so easy to get to. Rothesay is a pretty town with a Castle and Museum, loads of cafes and bars and restaurants, outdoor entertainments for kids and a putting green. There are quite a few gardens open to the public on the island, which is only 25kms long and never wider than 7km. To the South of the Island is Mount Stuart, home to former racing driver Johnny Dumfries, who is now the Marquess of Bute. It is a stunning house with great gardens and a wonderful art collection, and open to the public all year. All around the island are pretty coves and beaches that are great for swimming, paddling, Barbecues etc. You can easily cycle the island in a day.

Glasgow (72 miles) You can get there quicker using the boat, but we suggest you go the long way overland. It’s just over an hour and a half’s drive via Loch Eck, Loch Fyne, the “rest and be thankful” with its great views, Loch Lomond and the A82; a stunning route to take to an amazing city to visit. Great galleries, half a dozen major museums, European City of Architecture and of Culture, five full-time theatres, plus opera, classical music and ballet, Comedy Clubs, great restaurants, internationally recognised club scene, variety of concert venues, two reasonably famous football teams - and excellent retail therapy opportunities. The centre of Glasgow, and virtually all the main attractions, are extremely easy to navigate on foot. Edinburgh’s only another 55 minutes away by car or train.