Benmore Botanic Garden

Located between Dunoon and Loch Eck the Garden was once part of an extensive plant and painting collector called James Duncan land and was first Established in 1863.

The garden covers around 120 acres and boasts Giant Redwoods that stand over fifty metres high and over one hundred and fifty years old as well as over three hundred species of rhododendron and over one third of the world’s conifer species.

Victorian Fernery

Outside of the Botanic Garden is a large car park with plenty of space for coaches and cars in order to enter the garden visitors must pay a small fee at the gift shop:

• Adult £6
• Concession £5
• Under 16s free of charge

One of the amazing views

The garden is open for the majority of the year, only closing November – February. The best time to go to these gardens is on a dry day as you will be doing a lot of walking if you plan to see it all. When we went it was on an extremely warm day and even though there were plenty of trees that provided shade we still ended up sunburned. That did not ruin the day though as we managed to cover the majority of the locations on the map that you are supplied with on admittance. If you were to visit this place it would be in your best interest to stick to the map and paths as due to the size of the place it is incredibly easy to become lost. If you do happen to get lost there are plenty of maps posted throughout the garden informing you of your current location.

Stuart inside the Victorian Fernery

While we were walking around the garden we seen plenty of wildlife however they were difficult to capture on camera. We did manage to get pictures of newts and crickets.

One of the many crickets we spotted

Due to the majority of the visitors being elderly we found that a lot of the walks were empty and peaceful as they tended to stay near the entrance were the ponds and benches are located. So if you ever find yourself in this area the Benmore Botanic Garden would be worth your time.

If you want to see more images please visit the Gallery page.

Glendaruel Long Walks

In Glendaruel there is no shortage when it comes to local walks. In this section I will tell you about three long walks that are worth checking out if you plan to stay in Glendaruel for the day.

Lovers Walk

If you exit through the back entrance of the Caravan Park you will see a wooden fence and on the other side there is a wooded area. If you enter through the gate there are two walks that are located here.
The Lovers Walk is a small walk which takes around thirty minutes to complete and it is maintained by the local grounds keeper whose house is right beside the walk. As you are walking up the start of the path you can see into the grounds keeper’s garden which has a large variety of weird things inside for example the last year when I stayed at the Caravan Park I seen that he had a large plastic Gorilla sitting beside a large tree.
At the top of the hill there is a large natural pool that visitors often use during the hottest days of summer and this is called “The ladies bathing pool”

Ladies Bathing Pool

This walk is used regularly by dog walkers and families are welcome to use it just as long as they clean up any mess that they make.

Me and my dog Sid 

The park

If you have children with you and you want to take them somewhere else to play rather than staying in the Caravan Park all day. If you walk for thirty minutes west of the Caravan Park there is a children’s park which was actually funded by the National Lottery. The park is in good condition and is right beside the Col-Glen Shinty clubs field and the local school.

View of Col-Glen Shinty clubs field

There are a few picnic benches located here so families could easily spend the whole day here getting to know locals and also depending on what day it is they can watch a game of Shinty.

Lochan Chuilceachan Footpath

At the highest peak of Lovers Walk there is a dirt path that looks like it leads to a farm. If you follow that you reach a field and throughout this field are signposts that you follow in order to keep on the right path. I would not recommend this walk if you have young children as it is a 2.5km long walk and in order to complete it and walk back I would advise you to start early in the morning as it takes around 2 hours each way and wrap up because it is very cold at the top of the hill. This walk is also ideal for dogs however, it would be a good idea to keep them on a leash at all times as you pass sheep and cattle. When you reach the end of the walk you can see Glen to the Kyles of Bute and over the Glen to the windfarm at Cruach Mhor.

Sign for Lochan Chuilceachan Footpath

For more pictures please visit the Gallery.

Glendaruel Short Walks

Around the Caravan Park

Whilst staying at the Caravan Park there may be the odd day that you do not want to venture into nearby towns. Instead you may want to see what there is to do locally.
If you happen to have young children with you there it is likely that you will not be going on any hikes so one of the options that you have is to walk around the outside of the Caravan Park. There are four exists to choose from and they are:

• The main car entrance
• Through the woods beside the Camping site
• The path beside the Static Caravans
• Through the park at the back of the site

Whilst walking round the site you will come across something that looks like the remains of an old building in the image below.

Lucknow Gates

The remains of the old building are in fact the Lucknow Gates. These gates are replicas of the gates that exist in India in the city of Lucknow. The gates were built in honour of the former resident Sir Colin Campbell who was part of the Indian Rebellion in 1857.Originally these gates lead to Glendaruel House where Sir Colin Campbell also known as General Colin Campbell lived and sadly the house no longer stands as in the 1970s it was destroyed by a fire.
Along this path there are plenty of animals can be spotted and in the B&B located behind the caravan are chickens whose eggs are for sale early in the morning so if you want fresh eggs you must get up pretty early.
Before you reach the B&B there is a path mainly suited for off road vehicles but it is safe to walk on. After walking up this path for around five minutes there is an old church. There are no signs informing you of what church it is though it looks well looked after. Once we found this church we asked others at the caravan park and what we found was that it used to be a church but it has since been renovated and it is occasionally rented out to tourists. There is no way in which to verify this as after multiple Internet searches there is nothing about this old church.

Old church

In the next post I will talk about the other walks in Glendaruel. If you want to look at any more images please visit the Gallery.

Glendaruel

Located in Argyll Glendaruel is a large glen with small town called the Clachan of Glendaruel with a rather small population of just under 200. As the population is so small locals have to travel to the nearest towns such as Tighnabruaich and Dunoon for every day necessities. As Glendaruel is so out of the way it is an ideal spot for caravan and camping holidays for those who want some peace and quiet away from modern technology.

GLENDARUEL CARAVAN & CAMPING PARK

Just a five minute walk from the main town there is a Caravan and Camping park which is open from the 1st of April to the 31st of October to tourists and members who have a pitch there. The site welcomes Campers and Tourers. If you do not own a tent or you do not have your own caravan you can hire a caravan at the park or spend a few nights at the camping lodge which is a small isolated hut ideal for two people and is very popular with cyclists and motorcyclists. Also there is an on-site shop which stocks the necessities.
The park is dog friendly and child friendly with a few rules that those staying at the park must adhere to such as:

• All dogs must be kept on a leash inside the park.
• Children must not play around the caravans. Instead they must use the play park or the playfield at the side of the park.
• No noise between 11pm and 9am.
• No parking cars in spare pitches.

Our Caravan at the park

I have been going to this Caravan Park for almost five years and it is by far one of the best ones in the area as it is simple and quiet in comparison to the other parks closer to Dunoon that tend to focus too much on attracting tourists rather than maintenance.

Our tent in the camping area

In the next post I will mention the other places worth visiting in Glendaruel.