The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

the times Saturday December 4 2021

Travel 41

Need to

know

century, during a brief moment of ostenta-

tion for the Macdonalds when the kelp

seaweed industry was at its most prosper-

ous, it couldn’t cope with the Skye weather

and soon fell apart. “It would have been a

dreadful place to live, damp and cold,” con-

fided Lord Macdonald, who showed no

sign of regret at its decay. That family’s

prosperity was very shortlived, and the

clan chief ended up having to sell the

whole estate 50 years ago, when double

death duties hit hard, forcing him into the

hotel business. It is even fewer miles from

Kinloch to the new distillery at Torabhaig,

one of two new distilleries on Skye, com-

plementing the veteran Talisker. Here our

group of tasters treated the new whisky

with so much reverence that our time in

the tasting room felt like going to church.

In between these activities there was

food, very good food, in a dining room

surrounded by family portraits. Claire

Macdonald, the author of 23 cookery

books, established the reputation of the

place, since when Kinloch has gained (and

lost) a Michelin star. The new head chef

Jordan Webb’s style is fragrant and un-

fussy, so I had seared Sconser scallops in

Jerusalem artichoke soup, a gently spiced

venison dal, and a beautifully light fillet of

halibut in a creamy vermouth sauce.

On my last afternoon Webb took me

down to the shoreline and showed me how

to identify wild herbs such as the sea

coriander he uses in the fish tartare. Was

he intimidated by having such a famous

name in the wings at Kinloch? Not at all,

he said, Lady Claire was very supportive,

and he still borrowed ideas from her

recipes. He particularly admired her

emphasis on seasonality and locality —

groundbreaking when she first made a

point of it. He continues to get his scallops,

mussels, langoustines and venison from

within a few miles.

As he picked his way around the shore-

line rocks, identifying scurvy-grass and

sorrel, with the sheen of the sound stilling

behind him and a skein of geese adding

their stitch to a darkening sky, he revealed

that, such had been the brutality of lock-

down, he’d spent a short period working as

a cleaner for Brighton council before

spotting the Kinloch job.

Council cleaner to head chef in a matter

of weeks. What a rollercoaster ride these

past couple of years in hospitality have

been.

Difficult journeys through Covid are

what makes sanctuaries such as Kinloch

more important than ever, with their

purity and raw beauty. They cannot help

but affect anyone with an ounce of poetry

in their soul. Maybe there wasn’t much

poetry in the soul of that teenage poacher

Granny Cloud first dragged into the

lodge all those years ago. But this visit

suggests that now I’m all grown up, that

might have changed.

Andrew Eames was a guest of Kinloch

Lodge. The Golden Anniversary

package, available from February 2022,

includes three nights’ half-board and

two days of activities, from £899pp

(kinloch-lodge.co.uk)

6 more historic Scottish hotels

The Torridon,

Wester Ross

This polished, baronial-

looking former shooting

lodge sits on the shore

of Loch Torridon.

Interiors combine velvet

and chrome, with a hint

of tartan. The menu in

the 1887 Restaurant

reflects what’s growing

in the garden, and the

Whisky Bar has a

whopping 365 malts

plus 120 gins. Big

windows drink in the

view across the water

to the steep-rising far

shore, where the sunlight

turns the wet rock into

glittering diamonds and

the streams to silver

tassels. For the

Highlands this is a

comparatively fertile

spot, so the hotel

has its own walled

kitchen garden.

Details B&B doubles

from £155

(thetorridon.com)

Isle of Eriska, Argyll

A sumptuous resort

just in itself, the Isle

of Eriska sits on its

own island in the

sheltered, sea-

connected waters

of Loch Linnhe,

linked by a short

bridge to the mainland.

It comes with turrets

and a Michelin-starred

restaurant, and attracts

well-heeled guests from

all over the world. The

Isle of Eriska is rare

among Highland hotels

in having a spa, plus a

swimming pool and

gym. Wellies are left

by the door for island

exploration. The island’s

highest point has a cairn

with directions: 11 miles

to Oban, 2,380 to the

North Pole.

Details B&B doubles from

£283 (eriska-hotel.co.uk)

Doune, Inverness-shire

Isolated on the tip

of the most remote

peninsula on the

mainland, Knoydart,

there’s nothing quite

like this small

settlement of buildings,

run by the couples who

created it. The location

is rugged and

magnificent, on the

mainland side of the

Sound of Sleat, a sunset-

watching, dolphin-rich,

island-facing place, in

its own little bay.

Accommodation is

simple rather than

luxurious, and the bread,

oatcakes and even the

cheeses are homemade.

Essentials (including

guests) are ferried in

from Mallaig by Doune’s

own boats, which were

also built by the team.

Details Full board

doubles from £220

(douneknoydart.co.uk)

The Ceilidh Place,

Ullapool

Ullapool, on the

shores of Loch

Broom, is a lively

fishing and ferry port

for the Outer Hebrides,

and a lot of that

liveliness is focused on

this landmark property,

which passed its 50th

anniversary last year.

Hotel rooms, a

bookshop, a venue for

live music, a café and a

bunkhouse are squeezed

into a row of terraced

houses. Rooms are a

mix of modern and

traditional, and can

be cosy (ie small), but

there’s a shared living

room with an honesty

bar, and guests come

here because it’s a hub

to meet like-minded

others. A place for a

ceilidh, in other words.

Details Half-board

doubles from £150

(theceilidhplace.com)

Loch Melfort Hotel,

Argyll

It may not be titled,

tartaned or turreted, but

Loch Melfort’s appeal

lies in its panoramic

views over the islands

of Shuna and Luing to

Jura, and its strategic

position right next to the

flourishing Arduaine

Garden. Sheltered

conditions in a fertile,

more southerly

setting midway down

the Argyll coast

mean guests can

make the most of

an expansive west-

facing deck to soak

up the sunsets.

Melfort’s young and

energetic owners,

who live on site with

their children, make

this a family-friendly

option, particularly

because there’s a

private beach and

17 acres of gardens

with goats and shaggy

Highland cows.

Details B&B doubles

from £76

(lochmelfort.co.uk)

Taychreggan, Argyll

This former drovers’ inn

sits just inland on the

shores of Loch Awe, at

the end of its own road

from where cattle

merchants once

ferried — or even

swam — their herds

across. Samuel

Johnson and James

Boswell stayed here

in 1773 on their

historic journey to the

Hebrides. Today’s

interiors are traditional —

four-poster beds, heavy

quilts — and young staff

drive an ambitious

kitchen, with imaginative

tasting menus that

include duck tortellini,

scallop ceviche and the

like. There’s (record-

sized) trout fishing on

the loch, plus 90 miles

of lochside forestry trails

for hiking and biking.

Details B&B doubles

from £270

(taychregganhotel.co.uk)

Scotland at its most dramatic

A

c m s t m m a f u M e w t t o b p

17 acre

now well established back on Skye. Then
he took me down to the burn to look for
honey fungus and otter poo (“have a sniff,
it smells like a fresh crab sandwich”).
This was the first of two full days of
activities, during which I never went far;
I didn’t need to. It was only about seven
miles along the coastal road to ramble
around the ruins of the Macdonald castle
at Armadale. Built in the early 19th

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The Torridon

Isle of Eriska

Taychreggan

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