The Jetty Gallery

The Jetty Gallery sits at 100 George Street, at the north end of Oban's main street near the seafront, and holds the strongest collection of original contemporary art in town. It's run by Annie Mackenzie, who knows every piece on the walls and the story of the person who made it.

The mix covers most mediums. Oils and watercolours share the space with sculpture, ceramics, glasswork, turned and inlaid wood, textiles and a case of handmade jewellery, all original work from established and emerging artists, most of them Scottish and many of them local to Argyll. Names on the roster have included Frank Colclough, Patricia Sadler, Rowena Laing and Ron Noble, and buyers have gone home with everything from Ed Hunter oils of Oban harbour to Karen Fawcett's small animal sculptures of hares, wrens and other British wildlife. Prices start around £20 for smaller pieces and climb into the thousands for major canvases, so it works as a gift stop and a serious buying trip.

The gallery hangs rotating shows through the year, a Winter Show among them, so the stock changes with each visit. Shipping can be sorted for larger purchases, and paintings have made it as far as the United States, which spares anyone the job of carrying an oil painting onto the Craignure ferry.

Oban's shops lean heavily on the visitor trade, and original art at this standard is not what most people expect to find between the woollen mills and the fudge. Give it half an hour. The harbour is right outside when you're done.