Resipole Studios – Contemporary Scottish Art on Loch Sunart
A few hours.
The route
Resipole Studios is an award-winning gallery of contemporary Scottish art, in an old milking barn overlooking Loch Sunart.
It suits a wet morning as well as a bright one: four rooms of paintings, pots and sculpture, then lunch along the loch in Strontian.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Glenhurich Lodge in Glenhurich. Sleeps 11.
The day
Loch Sunart
A slow morning among new paintings and pots at the foot of Beinn Resipol, then the road east along the loch to the village for lunch.
About three hours
Resipole Studios
An attraction
Resipole Studios is beside the A861 on the north shore of Loch Sunart, between Strontian and Acharacle, and you park right in front of the door. The artist Andrew Sinclair opened the gallery in 2004 in a 19th-century milking barn at the foot of Beinn Resipol, on land that has been his family's since the 1950s. Its four rooms hold paintings, ceramics and sculpture by artists inspired by the west coast, and the shows change through the year: from 7 November to 28 February the winter show gathers smaller pieces. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm; from mid-December to the start of March, ring 01967 431506 first. The entrance is step-free through wide double doors, and the ground-floor rooms and the accessible toilet are on the level; the upper gallery is up a flight of stairs.
17 min by car
Cafe Sunart
Lunch
It's 17 minutes' drive east along the loch to Strontian, where Cafe Sunart, in the middle of the village, serves cooked breakfasts, lunches and home baking, inside or out on its small terrace. It opens Monday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm and on Sundays from 9am to 3pm, and posts any change on its Facebook page. The public toilets are behind Strontian Stores.
If it rains
On a wet day, both stops are under cover; the hide is a short stop by the road.
On the way
- Garbh Eilean Wildlife Hide
The Garbh Eilean wildlife hide is beside the A861 about two miles east of the gallery, on the way to Strontian. The hide, built by local people from local timber, looks over Loch Sunart, with a telescope inside. Seals rest on the shore below and herons nest on the island beside it, so bring binoculars; seals are easily disturbed, so keep well back. Parking is charged, and there are Blue Badge spaces.
Cafe Sunart, a café in Strontian.
Photographs by Resipole Studios Fine Art Gallery and ncreswell via Google
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