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| www.ardtornish.co.uk | October
2012 |
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| THE ARDTORNISH NEWSLETTER, AUTUMN 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Greetings from Ardtornish | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We’ve
had a good year. Thank you to our visitors, more numerous than ever,
for your support of Ardtornish – assisted this year, no doubt,
by the exceptional spring and summer. While central Scotland and
most of England cowered beneath leaden skies and heavy rain, we
enjoyed the sun – which shines still, as we write, in late
October. |
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We
have plenty going on this winter. November sees the first of the
Ardtornish and Scottish Book Trust writers’ residencies, when
Jackie Kay – ‘book of the year’ winner at last
year’s Scottish Book Awards - comes to Rose Cottage on a month-long
literary retreat. There’s the latest in our regular Slow Food
events at Ardtornish House, this time about Scotland’s women
brewers, with catering by the Whitehouse Restaurant (more on our
website). We’ll be getting started with two affordable houses
for local use at Achabeag, and there’s the usual priming,
painting and primping of the holiday cottages and apartments in
Ardtornish House. |
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Morvern’s
a particularly good place to be at the moment – defying economic
gravity and more optimistic and positive than for many years past.
The sand mine has reopened, bringing ten new jobs. The community-owned
pontoons had a good year, turning a tidy profit – and imminently
due another boost, with construction of on-shore facilities (showers,
loos, etc.). The Whitehouse Restaurant is winning awards (see below).
And our own local economic contribution – with new hydro capacity
on-stream in the very near future – is growing steadily.
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On
a sadder note, we’ll be saying goodbye to Ian Lamb as a permanent
member of the Ardtornish community. With Helen, Ian came to run
the walled garden at Ardtornish over thirty years ago, and transferred
his skills to the main gardens when Carolyn left five years back.
Following Helen’s death, he’s decided to move nearer
to his relations in central Scotland – but we’re delighted
that he’s offered to return to help us out on a regular basis
from next spring. His contribution to Ardtornish has been immense.
We’re hugely grateful. |
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Even
more sad is the recent death of Sir Andrew Hugh Smith, who knew
and loved Ardtornish for over eighty years. As chairman of the estate
company, his role was enormous in building a thriving business with
a great future from a traditional West Highland estate. The gift
of his time, experience and knowledge was unique and precious. Our
thoughts are with Venetia, David and Peter. |
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Please
come back to see us soon. Now over to colleagues.... |
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Hugh
Raven |
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| MacI's piece | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many
thanks to both regular and new guests who stayed here this year.
We’ve had a good one, and loved seeing so many friends, old and
new. |
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Hugh
mentioned in our newsletter this time last year his disappointment
about “how quiet we are in May and June, well known by West
Highlanders to be much the best period to be here. With few or no
midges, wonderfully long days, and the best weather – it’s a magical
time”. So it is. As too is October – another of the best times
to be in the West Highlands, with quiet roads, cool clear crisp
days, and fantastically dark star-lit nights. It’s by far my own
favourite time of year at Ardtornish. It saddens me that many of
our guests will never experience the area in its beautifully colourful
early winter stage. We’ve made it very easy to arrange an autumn
or winter break, with flexible arrival and departure dates, and
no minimum stay. |
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Many
of our visitors will have spoken to or met our summer assistant,
Isla Robertson. Isla’s finished her season here, and is preparing
to head off to the big smoke where she hopes to continue her career
with more training. She contributed hugely, and will be greatly
missed. |
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Our
bunkhouse is set to re-open at the start of the New Year - and like
all of our holiday cottages and flats, you’ll be able to view availability
and book your stays online. We’ll also be launching our new website
in the very near future – and will let you know by email when the
site goes live. |
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We
opened a photography competition in our Summer newsletter, but a
technical hitch means some of the submissions are stuck in digital
limbo and no longer viewable.... We’ll fix the glitch shortly, resume
the judging process, and announce the winners on our website and
Facebook page. Many apologies to all concerned. |
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Celebrate
Christmas & New Year at Ardtornish Our holiday cottages and flats in Ardtornish House are available to book over Christmas and New Year. To encourage more Christmas bookings we have reduced the weekly rates significantly and let for short breaks. You can check availability online here. |
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If
you’re still to book your 2013 visit to Ardtornish or would like
to find out more about our holiday cottages and flats in Ardtornish
House, please contact me - by email on stay@ardtornish.co.uk
or telephone on 01967 421 288. As usual,
we’re keen to offer our regular visitors their usual week, so shall
hold off accepting online bookings for next year for a further two
weeks. |
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| We
look forward to welcoming you to Ardtornish in the near future. |
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MacI |
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| Ardtornish Hydro News | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The
autumn has been spent admiring and getting to know Lochan Lub an
Arbhair, the loch that has appeared behind the newly finished Rannoch
Dam hydro scheme. Lub an Arbhair, in case you’re wondering,
is Gaelic for the bend or meander around the corn field. It is an
old name associated with that area, although no-one is clear exactly
where the corn field was. The loch has attracted considerable praise
from our visitors, and has looked its best surrounded by the wonderful
autumn hill colours that we’ve had this year. |
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It's
been reasonably wet – so a good autumn for hydro production,
but we’ve been frustrated by not earning feed-in-tariff payments
for the scheme until, we expect, December this year. |
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As
well as generating plenty of renewable energy and income to support
the estate, the loch will provide many other benefits – we expect
the wild brown trout fishing to be good next year, and the loch
is already popular for swimming. |
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And
canoeing - as shown by Faith Raven in the photograph opposite. |
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Angus
Robertson |
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| Nature notes - the Uileann Hummel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A
hummel is a red deer stag that fails to grow antlers. It’s
a condition attributed to malnutrition during the first year of
life, when pedicle development takes place – or doesn’t.
Antler growth only starts once pedicles have reached a critical
size. If they aren’t fully developed, antler growth is inhibited. |
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Not
having to grow antlers often means that they have greater body mass
than normal stags. But the poor old hummel is usually a marked beast.
Stalkers try to eliminate them in the mistaken belief that they
beget like offspring. In fact the abnormality is not hereditary,
and hummels can hold hinds and produce normal calves. |
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At
Uileann we’ve had the pleasure of this chap’s company for the past
three seasons. He was on the fence line above the house when this
picture was taken through a telescope last year. He appears early
in the rut before the stags have properly broken out and has a canny
habit of disappearing before stalking starts in earnest. This year
the rather stunted spike was a little longer and straighter. Long
may he continue to escape the stalker’s bullet – we’ve become rather
attached to him.... |
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Alan
Kennedy |
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| Jane’s piece | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I write this on my way back from Invernesss, where the Whitehouse was up against a strong field in the Restaurant of the Year class of the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards. Other finalists included the Isle of Eriska Hotel, and the Summer Isles Hotel – both very well-known and long-established. So the judges had a tricky job. |
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As
they put it.... |
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“The judges had an incredibly difficult task choosing
between the remarkable shortlisted establishments and many hours
were spent deliberating. However, it was the Whitehouse Restaurant’s
value for money and its use of creatively combined flavours to produce
beautifully presented dishes using locally sourced produce, which
edged it into first place. With an emphasis on local fish, shellfish
and game, the Whitehouse Restaurant is an oasis of great food and
warm hospitality on the Morvern peninsula.” |
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As you can imagine, we're thrilled. It's a brilliant win for Mike
and Lee. |
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| Still
beaming from our victory, we were elated to find last Sunday that
we’re runners up in the Observer
Food Awards 2012 Scottish Best Restaurant category. |
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| Many,
many thanks to our visitors who nominated us. Mike and Lee head
off to the sun for an incredibly well earned break, but will be
back next year. |
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Jane
Stuart-Smith |
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| News Flashes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recent
news includes a Financial Times report on our Winter McNab,
and the opportunity to try it for yourself ... |
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The
winter MacNab - The FT reports •••
The
winter Macnab - take part yourself! •••
Jackie
Kay first Writer in Residence at Ardtornish •••
Achabeag
affordable housing ••• Lochaline
mine reopens ••• Sadly
... Ian Lamb leaves Ardtornish •••
New
residents at Achabeag ••• The
2012 West Highland Slow Food Weekend: 10-11 Nov. 2012
••• Plaudits
aplenty for The Whitehouse ••• Sharks
and dolphins ••• New
book on Ardtornish House marbles |
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| We
regularly post news from Ardtornish on the website
and our Facebook
page - so please remember to drop by or follow the links
below. There are also some good new images on the property pages
of the website.
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