King Of The Castles

Whilst Campbeltown is possibly the dullest town I've ever visited, let alone lived in, it does offer a great bit of history around every corner. So far, we've visited a couple of pretty old castles...

Skipness Castle dates from the 13th century, and Rhett and I visited on a sunny day a couple of weeks ago. We parked and walked the short distance to the grounds, before being greeted by the domineering stonework of it's outer walls. All around it grew fresh green grass, and whilst we couldn't go inside, it was worth the 45 minute journey to reach it by single track roads.

Unlike Windsor and that castle Snow White lives in, this one is fairly small, but none the less, it is the genuine article. Built by the Clan MacSween, it was garrisoned with royal troops in 1494 before being abandoned in the 17th century.

Saddell Castle is much newer, built by David Hamilton (not Diddy David Hamilton - David Hamilton the Bishop of Argyll) between 1508 and 1512, and features include a rather cool trap door fitted in the main entrance hallway, which drops unwanted visitors into the exit-less dungeon below.

It stars in the Wings music video 'Mull Of Kintyre', and is equally beautiful as Skipness Castle, and best of all, you can actually hire this one from the the Landmark Trust, who bought it in the 1970's to restore. It sleeps 10, and sits right on the beach.

We worked on the beach the day we visited, fine tuning Tara's very cool storybook about dancing.