Carefully Selected Scottish Holiday Homes in Beautiful Locations
Campbeltown
CAMPBELTOWN's best feature is its setting, in a deep bay sheltered by Davaar Island and the surrounding hills. With a population of 6500, it is also one of the largest towns in Argyll and, if you're staying in the southern half of Kintyre, its shops are by far the best place to stock up on supplies. As is evident from the architecture, Campbeltown's heyday was the Victorian era, when shipbuilding was going strong, coal was shipped by canal from Drumlemble, the fishing fleet was vast and Campbeltown Loch was said to be made of whisky. The decline of all its old industries has left the town permanently depressed, and unemployment and under-employment remain a persistent problem.
Nineteenth-century visitors to Campbeltown frequently found the place engulfed in a thick fog of pungent peat smoke from the town's 34 whisky distilleries - today, only two remain. The deeply traditional, family-owned Springbank, off Longrow, is the only distillery in Scotland that does absolutely everything from malting to bottling, on its own premises. There are regular no-nonsense guided tours but it's best to phone ahead to check (Easter-Sept Mon-Thurs 2pm; tel 01586/552085; £3). At the end, you get a voucher to exchange for a miniature at Eaglesomes, on Longrow South, whose range of whiskies is awesome.
On the town's palm-tree-dotted waterfront you'll find the "Wee Picture House", a little Art Deco cinema on Hall Street, built in 1913 and still going strong (daily except Fri). Next door is the equally delightful Campbeltown Museum and Library (Tues-Sat 10am-1pm & 2-5pm, Tues & Thurs 5.30-7.30pm; free), built in 1897 in the local sandstone, crowned by a distinctive lantern, and decorated on its harbourside wall with four relief panels depicting each of the town's main industries at the time. Inside, there's a timber-framed ceiling and etched glass partitions to admire, but the museum itself is inferior to the Campbeltown Heritage Centre on the Machrihanish Road (April-Oct Mon-Sat noon-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; £2), housed in the church known locally as the "Tartan Kirk", partly due to its Gaelic associations, but mainly for its stripy bell-cote and pinnacles.
Campbeltown's tourist office is currently on the Old Quay (July & Aug Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm; May & June Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; April Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; Sept & Oct Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-4pm; Nov-March Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; tel 01586/552056), and will happily hand out a free map of the town. The best centrally located accommodation is the delightful family-run Ardshiel Hotel, on Kilkerran Road (tel 01586/552133; £50-60), situated on a lovely leafy square, just a block or so back from the ferry terminal. On the north side of the bay, Craigard House (tel 01586/554242, www.craigard-house.co.uk; £90-110), a former whisky distiller's sandstone mansion is even more palatial. For an inexpensive, central B&B, head for Westbank Guest House, on Dell Road (tel 01586/553660). The best bar food is to be found at the Ardshiel Hotel.
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