Our easy-to-use website contains details and locations of places to visit around this area. Please select from:

	Places to Stay: Bed and Breakfast Hotels and Guest Houses Pubs with Accommodation Self Catering
	Places to Eat and Drink: Cafes, Coffee & Tea Shops Pubs serving Food Restaurants and Bistros
	Places of Interest: Places to Visit
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	Specialist Shops: Antiques & Restoration Arts and Crafts Fashions Gifts Home and Garden Jewellery Food and Drink Shops

Strachur

Strachur sits on the shore of Long Fyne, on the opposite bank from Inveraray. Strachur Smiddy (meaning “smithy”) dates from 1791, and finally closed in the 1950s. It has now been restored as a small museum and craft shop, and has some original tools and implements used by blacksmiths and farriers. Glenbranter, which was once owned by Sir Harry Lauder, has three short walks through mature woodlands. In the kirkyard at Strachur is buried Sir Fitzroy MacLean, diplomat and spy, who died in 1996, and was said to be the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond.

Lachlan Castle (private), ancestral home of the MacLachlans, lies six miles south of Strachur on the B8000. The older 15th century castle, which is in ruins, is close by. Nine miles south of the castle, still on the B8000, is Otter Ferry. As the name implies, this village was once the eastern terminal of a ferry that crossed Loch Fyne, but it is long gone. The word “otter” comes from the Gaelic “oitir”, meaning a gravel bank, and has nothing to do with the animal.

A single lane track, the Ballochandrain, leaves Otter Ferry and rises to more than 1000 feet before descending to Glendaruel. It has some wonderful views towards the Inner Hebrides.