Places we like to go

Home Farm sits in private woodland in a glen behind Oban. Walking into town takes twenty easy minutes, so you don’t have to rely on a car to get about – perfect for groups who perhaps want to do different things during any given day. You can come and go independently, whilst always feeling nicely secluded and away from it all when at the house. There are plenty of supermarkets in town for a big shop and some great little independent stores and spots to eat along the bay. See our PLACES TO GO document that we send in advance of your arrival; it's regularly updated with tips and information..

Much of the Inner Hebrides can be accessed on ferries from Oban (and there are some flights from Oban's tiny airport).  Lots has been written about Mull, and Iona beyond. But beautiful, green-bursting Kerrera is just five minutes across the water on a little ferry from Port Gallanach. No cars are allowed for non-residents (around 50 people live on the island) making it a safe place to stroll or cycle around.  At one end is a busy marina. At the other, above a slate shore, are the remains of a castle that so struck the painter Turner when he visited in 1831 that he dazedly filled a whole sketchpad trying to capture its romance.

Little-visited and marvellously mystical. Loch Nell is an inland loch in Glen Lonan just a short drive from the house, with clear, swimmable water and views up to the triple-peak of Ben Cruachan. The single track through Glen Lonan is called The Road of the Kings - bodies of the early monarchs of Scotland were carried along here on their way for burial on the island of Iona. More than 20 Neolithic monuments, tombs and stones marking the position of the sun and stars stud Glen Lonan. Jutting up gnarly and covered in lichen in one field is the monolith Diarmid’s Pillar, where an Irish warrior-hero was killed by a boar. One burial cairn at the foot of the loch is known as the ‘Serpant’s Mound’ and is sinuously shaped around old stumps of willow. It’s really worth a wander through this glen. Take your swimming costume. There’s a stony beach at the foot of the loch where it’s possible to walk into the water – you won’t regret it!

Argyll is studded with many impressive castles but Stalker has the edge. Since 1322 it has risen sharply out of Loch Laich close to Oban like a granite exclamation mark. The name comes from the gaelic for ‘falconer’, and stories about various murdered clan chiefs living in the castle down the centuries are absurdly filmic.  One Lord of Lorn was stabbed on his way to church to be married, crawling to the alter for the (brief) ceremony. Port Appin is around the corner, overlooking the Lynn of Lorn - a misty, dreamy strait off the island of Lismore.  

Two miles north of Oban - beyond Dunollie castle but before the main public beach, Ganavan Sands - is a smaller cove with shallow water and pale sand dotted by oyster catchers. The view from here is really special …. sunsets on warm evenings are red as spreading fire. After a deluge, multiple rainbows curve over the island of Lismore across the water. Ganavan Sands is a friendly, low-key beach that can be inexplicably quiet, even on a warm day. Walk up along the rocks that hug the coast beyond the beach - the thistle and wild flowers thickly padding the stones are especially pretty. Seals bob in the water. Sometimes the Northern Lights can be seen from Ganavan Sands – worth checking AuroraWatch Scotland for celestial activity alerts.

A great local nickname for Dunollie Woods that cover the sea cliffs beyond town. Perhaps called the Witches because some of the trees here are over 400 years old and have been contorted by brutal coastal winds.  Or perhaps because the  clan chief Duncan MacDougall employed a coven of witches to help him escape a murder charge in 1597 (and it worked! But then, the witches of Lorn were known to be the most powerful in Argyll...) Drop down from the woods before you reach the castle and see the Dog Stone where the giant Fingal tethered his deerhound Bran - an immense sea-stack in the middle of a field, feathered with trees. 

Surely one of the most moving examples of public art anywhere in the world. Oban’s cenotaph was carved out of sandstone in 1923 by the great Scottish sculptor Alexander Carrick and depicts two kilted Highland infantrymen carrying a comrade to safety. It’s over 100 years old and yet the expressions on the faces of the soldiers are still hauntingly clear - especially the one to the right, who seems completely lost in folorn thought.  We love the energy in the carved fingers on the hands of the wounded man  - you can feel his determination to cling to life. This is a much appreciated memorial, locally. Obanites regularly walk along the shore from town, down the esplanade to pay respects. As you approach, the whole carved group forms a powerful huddle that seems to impersonate the hills behind.