| To start off, some of us may have to ask the | | | | yacht called King Duck 3, he drove into Rothesay on |
| question; "Where exactly is the Isle of Bute?" Well, | | | | business and noticed that one of the buildings had a |
| the answer may not be obvious to all but it is a | | | | new window installed on its gable end, where no |
| beautiful and highly scenic island situated just off the | | | | window was before. |
| Western coast of Scotland close to the estuary of | | | | He then immediately went off to the Town Hall and |
| the famous River Clyde and amidst rugged mountain | | | | demanded to know who had granted planning |
| landscapes and coastal waterways known as the | | | | permission for this new window. From there, he |
| Kyles of Bute. This wonderful and slightly tropical | | | | amplified the matter to such an extent that the |
| Scottish island has gained fame throughout many | | | | planning committee met and ruled that the said |
| centuries of history and yet, it is famed even greater | | | | window had to be removed again and the resultant |
| in more recent times when throughout the industrial | | | | hole blocked up to match the existing building. When |
| revolution and most of the nineteenth century is | | | | residents, even of privately owned homes, apply for |
| became known as Scotland's Rivera. | | | | planning consent, the planning committee has to run |
| From the City of Glasgow, one of Scotland's main | | | | each application past his Lordship for his approval. If |
| industrial and now cultural cities, an annual summer | | | | he did not approve the application, then it would |
| pilgrimage of holiday makers would sail from the | | | | never be passed. This being said, the people of Bute |
| Broomilaw Dock in Glasgow on any one of over | | | | are a happy and mainly content bunch, all well used |
| twenty well known paddle steamers, going what | | | | to and accepting of their feudal system and all it |
| they called "Doon the Wattir" for the Gleskay Fair. In | | | | holds. In the 1970s and on through the 80s too, the |
| our language this means sailing down the water for | | | | Isle of Bute suffered greatly as its tourist diminished |
| the Glasgow fair, which is a two week period in mid | | | | slowly and steadily. Many of the well loved steamers |
| July each year when the majority of workers had | | | | were taken off service and scrapped and the hotels |
| their annual vacation. These paddle steamers with | | | | and guest houses on the island were all suffering |
| names like The Jeannie Deans, The Waverley, The | | | | from deterioration inside and out, mainly due to the |
| Queen Mary 2 and many others, were filled to | | | | fact that Lord Bute never wanted much to change |
| capacity with revelling holiday makers all on their way | | | | on the island and as such, would never grant any |
| to the seaside town of Rothesay ( Pronounced | | | | permissions for building upgrades and modernizations. |
| Roth-say ) on the Isle of Bute. Even back in Victorian | | | | Very soon after the late Lord Bute's death in 1970, |
| times these pilgrimages were popular as the island | | | | the island started to show signs of new life again, |
| offered low cost accommodation, mainly good | | | | with a serious program of modernization and |
| weather, lots of free or low cost activities and for | | | | upgrading throughout Rothesay and in many of the |
| the upper classes, it even had two quite spectacular | | | | previously popular tourist places around the island. |
| Victorian Hydros. Known today as Hydropathic Spas | | | | The people knew they had to do something to bring |
| and Expensive Hotels. Rothesay also had many pubs | | | | back the crowds of holiday makers and as the world |
| and guest houses and there was always live music | | | | became smaller with lower cost flights to far off |
| and singing in almost every one of them. Another | | | | destinations, they had to do something fast. There is |
| very popular spot on the island for the holiday | | | | very little alternative industry on the island other than |
| makers was the almost adjoining historic fishing village | | | | tourism and farming and so, Rothesay got its facelift, |
| of Port Bannatyne, built along the shores of a bay | | | | including the very famous pier and promenade. Guest |
| just around the corner from the main hub of | | | | houses and hotels were improved and pushed into |
| Rothesay. The views from Port Bannatyne are quite | | | | the modern era with en-suites and resident bars and |
| stunning looking across the curved bay and the Kyles | | | | very soon, through the endless efforts of the local |
| of Bute into the mouth and steep mountains of Loch | | | | chamber of commerce and the island's tourism |
| Striven on the mainland coast. | | | | people, Bute was once again placed firmly on the |
| Bute is an island which even to this day is run on a | | | | map as a wonderful place to visit. |
| thing called the Feudal System, which goes back in | | | | A mysterious island just off the Scottish coast |
| time to the days of Mary Queen of Scots. In simple | | | | where circles of strange stones still stand from the |
| terms it means that the island and in this case, its | | | | day of druids, a real and operational gold mine exists |
| shores and the shores across from it are all owned, | | | | and horse drawn trams could take tourists around |
| managed and controlled by the Stuart family. The | | | | Rothesay Bay past endless palm trees and beautifully |
| same Stuart family as the previously named Mary. In | | | | landscaped gardens and water features. Golf courses |
| latter years when I was last on the island, it was | | | | with spectacular views, little boats for hire by the |
| owned by Sir David Crighton Stuart or Lord Bute as | | | | hour, horses to ride the shores and an atmosphere |
| he was better known. From his family home and | | | | of serene tranquility. With the warm water of the |
| summit of power called Mount Stewart, he would run | | | | Gulf Stream hitting the seaward side of Bute and the |
| his empire when he was in residence there. Of | | | | majestic Argyll Mountains providing shelter to the |
| course he also had numerous managers, land factors | | | | inward side, the island has always tended to enjoy a |
| and agents to do all of the work for him when he | | | | moderate and sometimes almost tropical climate. If |
| was not in residence. Even the fifty three farms on | | | | you are ever in Scotland and travel to its western |
| the island are all owned by, lock stock and barrel by | | | | coast, then the Isle of Bute is a must as part of |
| the late Lord Bute ( also known as the Marquess of | | | | your itinerary. You can visit the ancestral home of |
| Bute ) and they are all operated by tenant farmers | | | | the Stuarts, with its mixed architecture or towers |
| as they have been for hundreds of years. The feudal | | | | and spires and its very own family chapel in pure |
| system is so strict that I can remember one occasion | | | | marble. There is much to see and much to do and as |
| when Lord Bute returned to the island on his large | | | | always, never enough time to do it all. |