Pier Cottage, Kingairloch Estate, Scotland – 2nd visit

I almost wasn’t going to do a post about our second stay at Pier Cottage on the Kingairloch Estate, but after speaking to my husband about the new things we saw and the different time of year, I decided I would. 

Our previous stay was December 2022, this time was March 2024.

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Brief Info/Re-cap

Kingairloch is a coastal Highland Estate on the west coast of Scotland. There is a main estate house and 10 cottages dotted around.

We stayed in Pier Cottage (sleeps 2) which sits on the edge of Loch a’ Choire, a smaller loch joined to Loch Linnhe. These are tidal sea lochs.

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The front seating is so sheltered we again got to sit outside and enjoy a cup of tea in the sunshine.  We also took some family photos on the deck by the restaurant.

The Walled Garden

Our dog is pretty old so couldn’t manage as far as the Walled Garden, but I went on ahead and took these photos and another day we parked a bit nearer and managed to chat with Richard, the gardener.

Wildlife

I saw quick glimpses of an otter. If my husband hadn’t kept shouting “look otter” I’d have seen a bit more 😂

There were Highland cows that had got loose and walked past the house, wild deer outside the house and in the trees and goats wandering past the window too!

Best of all this time we saw two pine martens.   We started off putting bread with jam and peanut butter out, then following nights put just raw peanuts out.

New Things on the Estate

The owners of the Estate (since 2022), a wealthy Belian couple, now live part of the time in the Estate House, so that’s no longer available to rent out.  Apparently they are there at least once a month and have an active interest in renovating and restoring things on the estate.  It seems some of the holiday rental cottages are now lived in by some of the estate workers.

They have had a new piece of art installed.  Its 2 giant rocks one on top of the other.  It wasn’t to our taste but they obviously like it.

*their house is much further set back than where I was stood.

Clach na Crìche

We ventured out to a site we haven’t been to before.  Clach na Crìche was created about 60 million years ago, when molten magma was pumped from the heart of the Mull supervolcano through cracks in the Earth’s crust.  It is said that your wishes would be granted if you filled your mouth with local spring water and passed through the hole three times without touching the sides or swallowing the water!  It was also used as a border between lands owned by the Picts and the Scots.

Eating Out

Last time we visited, The Boathouse restaurant was closed for refurbishment.   This time it was open and we had the most amazing meal.  It was expensive but it was mostly, if not entirely, locally made, caught or grown food.  We had their selection of breads, a starter, main and dessert each and then we had chocolate truffles!  We also had a bottle of fizz and my husband had a cocktail.  It had been our wedding anniversary the week before so that was our excuse.  The breads were so delicious we bought a loaf of their brioche before leaving the estate too!

We went back to the local brewery, Ardgour Ales, for my husband to buy some beer and we enjoyed their homemade pizzas again. We also went back to the Ariundle Centre, for a toastie in their dog friendly restaurant.

I’d definitely like to go back again.  I really love it there.

No video this time, but I’m glad I’ve done the post about our second visit. Thanks for reading.