The Kintyre Forum

If you were selling Kintyre to someone what are the things you would mention?

What are the things that stand out to you?

What activities have you enjoyed that you thought were excellent?

Where have you visited and thought it was great?

What about events?

History?

Anything else?

Remember this relates to the WHOLE of Kintyre.

As an outsider who loves your part of the world, Kintyre doesn`t need to be "sold" to me, but I would suggest the charm and peace and quiet that can be found in abundance, the beautiful scenery, friendliness of the locals, and cleanliness.
Also, for people who are fed up with parking charges on holiday, we have yet to park somewhere in Kintyre where we`ve had to pay a fee.
As for places we`ve been that impressed us, and have paid repeat visits to, there`s Campbeltown, Tarbert, Lochgilphead (although it was a little disappointing last time), Carradale, The Mull itself, very grand and impressive.
There are also plenty of good places to eat out, at varying price levels.
We stayed at Muasdale each time we were up there, and the views were stunning, we never got over the thrill of opening the caravan blinds in the morning, or of the beautiful sunsets that can be seen from there.

numberplease wrote:As an outsider who loves your part of the world, Kintyre doesn`t need to be "sold" to me, but I would suggest the charm and peace and quiet that can be found in abundance, the beautiful scenery, friendliness of the locals, and cleanliness.
Also, for people who are fed up with parking charges on holiday, we have yet to park somewhere in Kintyre where we`ve had to pay a fee.
As for places we`ve been that impressed us, and have paid repeat visits to, there`s Campbeltown, Tarbert, Lochgilphead (although it was a little disappointing last time), Carradale, The Mull itself, very grand and impressive.
There are also plenty of good places to eat out, at varying price levels.
We stayed at Muasdale each time we were up there, and the views were stunning, we never got over the thrill of opening the caravan blinds in the morning, or of the beautiful sunsets that can be seen from there.

Thanks numberplease - perhaps the initial question wasn't correct about selling Kintyre.

What I am looking for is specifics - things that really stand out to people. I've got a wee idea and I want to ensure I include things that I may miss. Being local somethings can be right in front of you and you never see it. There are other things locals have probably done that others don't even know about.

So for example with regards specifics I'd say the Cave Painting on Davaar Island.

Miles of empty peaceful and beautiful beaches and hill walking in abundace throught kintyre are two that come straight to mind

The people

visitkintyre.info wrote:If you were selling Kintyre to someone what are the things you would mention?

History?

Remember this relates to the WHOLE of Kintyre.

Kintyre has a wealth of history and historical sites, which has been relatively untapped. Other parts of Scotland have made a feature of their history and promoted it with heritage interpretation sites to a much greater extent than Kintyre, and built significant historical tourism business. Two examples fairly close together:-

The St Columba connection with Iona has brought huge volumes of visitors to that island. The fact that he first set foot in Scotland at Southend before going on to Iona is not widely appreciated by those outwith Kintyre.

The Dunaverty massacre of 1647 was a much bigger and bloodier event than the famous Glencoe massacre of 1692. The National Trust has poured millions of pounds into Glencoe and created one of the highest profile events in Scottish history, together with the knock-on effects in the area.

Iona and the Glencoe area have both benefitted from their history, whereas Kintyre I would say, has not.

EMDEE wrote:

visitkintyre.info wrote:If you were selling Kintyre to someone what are the things you would mention?

History?

Remember this relates to the WHOLE of Kintyre.

Kintyre has a wealth of history and historical sites, which has been relatively untapped. Other parts of Scotland have made a feature of their history and promoted it with heritage interpretation sites to a much greater extent than Kintyre, and built significant historical tourism business. Two examples fairly close together:-

The St Columba connection with Iona has brought huge volumes of visitors to that island. The fact that he first set foot in Scotland at Southend before going on to Iona is not widely appreciated by those outwith Kintyre.

The Dunaverty massacre of 1647 was a much bigger and bloodier event than the famous Glencoe massacre of 1692. The National Trust has poured millions of pounds into Glencoe and created one of the highest profile events in Scottish history, together with the knock-on effects in the area.

Iona and the Glencoe area have both benefitted from their history, whereas Kintyre I would say, has not.

Yes, the history of Kintyre is amazing. Do you know of any good books which detail such?

Dunaverty Massacre...10April 1647.

During the time of the wars of the 3 Kingdoms, a Royalist army under Sir Alexander MacDonald and his men were being chased by a Covenanting force Led by Major General Leslie on the British side, down through Kintyre.
The Royalist forces took refuge in Dunaverty Castle, but after a siege were defeated by the Covenanters.
Those on the Royalist side who did not die in the fighting, mostly MacDonalds and MacDougalls, were captured and slaughtered by the 'Army of God'

Found the above via the Internet.

"Kintyre in the 17th Century" by Andrew McKerral (1948) gives a very detailed background to the Dunaverty Massacre. So far as the St Columba connection is concerned, I could not give any particular references, but I am sure someone else would be able to give information on any literature regarding this.

Hmmmmmmm not really much speacial about Kintyre......

Thanks however to numberplease, Ross, mrn and Emdee so far!

Several spring to mind including..

Standing Stones at Kilmartin, and visitor centre
Dunaverty rock, beach, Keil cave, St Columba's footprints
Mull of Kintyre...tours would be good!
Produce from local people e.g. cheeses, smoked fish, jewellery [Grant Logan]
Campbeltown Picture House.

Davaar Island ....any other area would promote the fantastic story of the cave painting, making it more accessible.

Also the beautiful scenery, beaches etc,

Some food for thought. Good luck!

Clearly I'm biased but Springbank Distillery has to be worth a mention.

The most traditional distillery in Scotland and the only one in the country which carries out 100% of the production process itself. Tours and tastings available all year round

The weather has a lot to do with our perspective of Kintyre.

My best memories of last year were

A day visit to Gigha - what a beautiful island.
Crab hunting at Muasdale.

And probably one thing you should try before you die is a pint on Sanda. It is really surreal being on this small island with a pub and only one resident!

A few for starters

The view from just above Seil point on a "clear"summers night as the sun is setting

Teeing off at the 1st at Machrihanish

The view from the 11th tee at Dunaverty - bit of a golf theme

The peace and tranquility of the Galdrons

The early days of the survivors night at the music festival - not managed for a good few years.

visitkintyre.info -
perhaps you can read thru these 2 threads again...maybe you'll find some other ideas already mentioned?

Things I miss most about Kintyre
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7399

Kintyre - in a few words
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6551


I just came across them again while looking thru my own posts & thought they may help. I didn't read back thru them, tho, so can't vouch for how specific or widespread the ideas listed may be.

Thanks, much appreciated. Just looking for ideas. Keep any thoughts coming.

Weather over the weekend was fantastic here. Lets hope it continues.