Arduaine Garden and Kilmartin Glen

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Arduaine Garden

After our beautiful walk on Kerrera we were disappointed to wake up the next day and find the weather had reverted to a more normal grey drizzle. Nevertheless, we decided to stick to our plan of driving home from Oban the long way round in order to visit Kilmartin Glen.

First, we stopped at Arduaine Garden, started in 1898 by James Arthur Campbell and now part of the National Trust for Scotland.

Arduaine Garden
Arduaine Garden
Arduaine Garden

Fortified with coffee, we headed for our next stop at Carnassarie Castle, dating from the 1560s. There were good views over Kilmartin Glen from the top, even if it was a little damp and misty – we certainly didn’t envy the people excavating an adjacent mound. That looked a cold job.

Carnasserie Castle
Carnasserie Castle
Carnasserie Castle

Into Kilmartin itself, and we visited the small museum, the church and its associated graveyard before having lunch in the hotel.

Kilmichael Cross
Kilmartin Church
Churchyard
Churchyard
Churchyard
Churchyard
Kilmartin Hotel

After lunch, we set out to explore the glen further. Kilmartin Glen has one of the most important concentrations of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in Scotland, including standing stones, a henge monument, numerous cists, and a ‘linear cemetery’ comprising five burial cairns. The gallery below is just a selection.

Glebe Cairn
Nether Largie Cairns
Cist
Chambered cairn
Standing stones
Standing stones
Standing stones
Temple Wood
Temple Wood

Finally, at the southern end of the glen we climbed to the remains of the fortress of Dunadd, a royal centre of Dàl Riata, the first kingdom of the Scots, more than 1300 years ago. The inauguration stone has a footprint (allegedly created by the hero Ossian) into which the new king placed his foot, thus betrothing himself to the land. These days, it’s a replica but we gave it a go anyway.

Inauguration stone
Inauguration stone
Inauguration stone
View of Kilmartin Glen

After that, it was time to head for home at the end of a lovely weekend.

Scotland, UK , , , , , ,

78 Comments »

  4. What beautiful photos and such an interesting place. I like your style of travel, Anabel as you mentioned coffee and lunch which are some of my highlights when I’m traveling. Plus there didn’t seem to be miles and miles of hiking. Looking forward to seeing where you go next!

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    • Thank you, Molly! It is a principle never to have a walk without a good lunch. We can do miles and miles on occasion, but ageing knee syndrome has cut that down a lot. One of us is sorrier than the other about this. (Clue: it’s not me.)

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  6. Hi Anabel – that looks a wonderful day … with some really interesting places to look at – one day I shall get up to Argyle and Bute and see some of these areas, gardens etc … cheers Hilary

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  8. Hi Anabel! Sorry I’ve been AWOL lately. It’s been a couple of very hectic months…
    But now I’m (kind of) back and so envious of this weekend of yours. That looks like such a lovely place. And I won’t say ‘in spite of the weather’, because I love that kind of weather (I know, I’m a very odd Mediterranean woman 😉 )
    Standing rocks never fail to fascinate me, maybe because we don’t have them here in Italy.

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    • Hi Sarah, no worries about being AWOL, I’m finding it hard to keep up with blog reading myself. It was indeed a wonderful weekend, and, no, the weather didn’t really detract from it.

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  10. I think you are so lucky to live in a country that has so much ancient history to visit. We do have lots of natural beauty in the States, and some history, of course. But our earliest inhabitants didn’t build the sort of structures that you see in Europe.

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  11. I felt as if I was looking onto a different planet when I read this post, Anabel. The ground here is, for the first time, covered in the white stuff with fat, fluffy flakes (say that 5 times fast) still falling. It’s beautiful but the contrast to your photos makes Scotland look almost tropical!

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  12. Brings back memories. Only been there once surprisingly and that was after reading Nigel Tranter’s historical novels which inspired me to visit Dunadd and Kilmartin. Probably the novel about Somerled, the King of the Isles at a guess. Seem to recall it was similar weather then but a nice journey. Can’t believe I’ve never been back there.

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      • Isn’t it funny how many places there are to see in our own countries, even places not far from where we live? I know there is a lot I haven’t seen in Virginia or in Washington too. Just this week I drove over 4 hours to Cape May, New Jersey. I’d been there before, when our boys were small, but I remembered wanting to go back to enjoy it for the adult things – the Victorian houses, the walk through the state park, etc. It was quite deserted and freezing cold, but I loved every minute of it. 🙂

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    • We didn’t realise at the time it was a replica as the info on site doesn’t say so. It was only when checking things for this post that I read it was a “concrete” replica and the original is hidden underneath, but now I can’t find that reference at all! Did I dream it? Anyway, I found an article just now that said it was fibreglass so i’ve taken out the word concrete. It also says the original is protected underneath so I guess that must be true.

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      • I guess they don’t tell you at the time in case you try and remove the replica . . glad I am not the only one though who reads things online and then can never find them again. Number of times I have done that!!

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  15. Definitely agree about the weather. I’m looking at our slippy slidey pavements and contemplating today’s agenda. 🙂 🙂 I’d never heard of Kilmartin Glen, Anabel, but it looks a fascinating area.

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  16. What a beautiful weekend and such interesting history. Thanks for sharing this with us, Anabel and John!

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  20. Anabel, what a gorgeous landscape. It must have been so interesting to see the historical remnants of ancient times. I haven’t yet been to Scotland, but visiting historical sites are among my fondest memories of my travels in Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.

    Jude

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  21. Kilmartin Glen looks fascinating, Anabel. A place full of history with a touch of mystery. I love all the historic remnants. Too bad about the grey weather, but you guys were prepared and in good spirits about it all!! And, it suits the location as someone pointed out. I think one of my New Year’s resolutions should be “Acceptance about the weather without complaints.” 🙂

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  23. It might not have been the nicest weather to hike in, but it certainly lent a lot of atmosphere to the pictures.
    Have a wonderful pre-Christmas time,
    Pit

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  26. Kilmartin is a great place. Only been once but enjoyed it immensely. The museum particularly good with an excellent guidebook ideal for someone like me with a lousy short-term memory! Looks like you had a great time.

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  27. And again I’m homesick (in a fond way) from reading your blog. These spots were our local stomping ground. Kilmartin Glen, Dunaad Hill, and Carnasserie were all favourite playgrounds of my children. When we went back to visit friends in Lochgilphead in 2015, these places were at the top of the list of places my kids wanted to go back to. They are very special to us. I’m glad you enjoyed your time there. I look forward to seeing where else your Argyll explorations took you.

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  28. This
    Oops like an amazing walk and adventure to a time of the Knights. I love old graveyards and castles for sure! Despite the weather, you were able to see a castle, museum, an old cemetery, ancient stones and a beautiful garden..lovely.

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  31. I’m interested in your definition of ‘the long way round’ as I’ve done at least three routes from Glasgow to Oban and I don’t recognise any of these names. My normal way is the Crieff/Ballater/Loch Awe route, which offers the opportunity to purchase crystal from the factory shop on the way home 🙂 I’ve also done the Inverurie route with two variants – to Loch Lomond (not the best way, despite being shorter) and once using the ferry. That was a long drive, but gorgeous. I think those two might have been used because of a tree down at Loch Awe. I am working from memory here, so apologies for any mistakes!

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    • We went up via the A82 along Loch Lomond to Crianlarich which is the fastest route I think. Kilmartin is south of Oban – we continued from there to Lochgilphead then up to Inverary and Arrochar where we joined the A82 again. It’s quite a big loop and slower roads, but definitely worth diverting for!

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      • Ah yes. I used the A82 all the way when orienteering once or twice – I hate that road! There are some nice places to stop where I can let the guinea pigs out in their run on clean grass north/west of Callander. And so much for memory – I meant Callander not Ballater, Inverary not Inverurie (interesting, because both of those are in Aberdeen), and Crieff is on the road to Perth, not Stirling, which is my preferred route!
        Moral: check the map. 🙂

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