Why I love Argyll
Kathie Griffiths Senior reporter, The Oban Times
Uprooting to Argyll was a box on my bucket list just waiting to be ticked.
The call of the big sky, open spaces, towering mountains, thick forests and – ah! – the freezing wild sea and lochs that make my teeth chatter. It captivated me. Whenever I packed up my humble camper to set off back to Yorkshire after a few snatched blissful days here, my heart would break. It always felt as though I’d forgotten something, left something behind. I tell friends and new colleagues it was ‘a golden buzzer moment’ when I saw The Oban Times job advertised. Tons of glittering confetti fell from the sky, there were no ‘what if’s’, no niggles – it was 100 per cent what I wanted and where I wanted to be. I knew it.
Calum Ross Chair of AITC, board member of VisitScotland and owner of Loch Melfort Hotel
Having travelled most of the world before settling here I can honestly say it’s the most amazing place in the world to live and work. And even if I wasn’t doing what I do now, I would still want to live here.
Argyll has so many special places and for me. Mull has to be one of my favourites. We holiday there every year – eight years now and every time we find something new to do or visit. Favourite thing with the family? A long walk through amazing countryside to a stunning, often secluded, white sand beach! Great seafood restaurants and bars to relax in in the evening. What could be better?
Eve Macfarlane AITC web editor and Westcoasting
Eight years ago I decided to leave my urban ways behind and go in search of something wilder. I’m lucky because my family had a holiday cottage on Loch Fyne, so that’s where I went. It was small, damp and run down, but I loved it. Over the years I’ve renovated the house, built a career in writing and started a family. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. What do I love about Argyll? The raw beauty, the space, the opportunity to get lost, the seasons, the way that the weather shapes life, the battered coastline, the bountiful sea. Argyll has a romantic glint in its eye and, if you’re someone who hankers after wild spaces, it’s bound to seduce you.