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Lochranza Castle · Isle of Arran
Isle of Arran

Lochranza Castle.

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Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran  5° · Clear
Isle of Arran

Where to go, eat and stay on Arran.

There's a reason Arran is called Scotland in miniature. An hour on the ferry brings you to an island with granite mountains in the north, green farmland and sandy bays in the south, and one road that loops right round the coast between them.

Castles, standing stones and sea cavesPlaces to visitSeafood, bakeries and a beach barFood and drinkShops, studios and makersShops and makersThe distilleriesWhiskyDays we have driven, stop by stopDays out
The guide

Our guide to Arran.

All of Arran, part by part: what is where, how to get round, and where to eat and stay. Photographed by us.

Read the guide to Arran
From our guideNear BrodickBrodick Castle, Garden and Country ParkBrodickIsle of Arran Heritage MuseumLochranzaLochranza CastleNear BlackwaterfootKing's CaveBlackwaterfootDrumadoon PointMachrieMachrie Moor Stone Circles

The history of Arran.

People have lived on Arran for well over 5,000 years, and they left their mark all over it.

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Days outA morningSaddell Abbey and the walk down to Saddell BayNo car neededA morningEas Mòr and lunch at the Forest of the FallsBy carA morningA walk up to Coire Fhionn Lochan from ThundergayBy carA morningGlen Rosa walk to the Blue Pool on ArranBy carA morningA walk round the Doon and Drumadoon PointBy carA morningA walk to Hutton's Unconformity at LochranzaBy car

New days out on Arran.

Ready-made days, the newest first, each with its drive times, its stops and somewhere to eat.

See every day out on Arran
Sunday9 minutes agoIsle of ArranMara, CorrieRestaurantIsle of ArranArran Botanical Drinks, CladachRestaurantIsle of ArranThe French Fox, BrodickRestaurantIsle of ArranCafe Thyme, MachrieCafeIsle of ArranThe Sandwich Station, LochranzaRestaurantIsle of ArranForest of the Falls CaféCafe

Open on Sunday.

By their own hours, which is the only kind we trust.

See all the places to eat
From the magazine23 minutes ago

The Library in the Woods, a hut full of books on the Isle of Arran, belongs to a charitable trust founded by a landowner known locally as the 'Wizard of the Woods'.

The trust is Eas Mor Ecology, in the woods above Kildonan, and it was set up in the 1990s by a landowner named Albert. The nickname comes from his long silver hair, Sarah from the trust's café told the magazine. As well as the library, the trust takes in trails, viewing platforms, picnic tables and lagoons, and Sarah helped to make them. 'I was friends with Albert’s daughters, and we spent our weekends growing up helping to build the paths'. The gingerbread-style hut sits at the top of a broad ravine, stacked with hardbacks, paperbacks and children's books. The view through its door runs out over the fields to the island of Pladda and the volcanic plug of Ailsa Craig.

See The Library in the Woods · Isle of Arran
Did you know37 minutes ago

King's Cave, on Arran, has an Ogham inscription on its wall.

It is cut into the south wall, among carvings of horses, a deer and crosses.

See King's Cave · Isle of Arran
Did you know50 minutes ago

At 2.29pm on 29 June 1995, Lochranza distillery made the first legal whisky spirit on Arran for more than a century and a half.

Arran had made plenty of whisky in its time, much of it illegal, but no licensed still had run on the island for 158 years. Then, at Lochranza, the new spirit ran through the spirit safe, the locked brass and glass box where a distiller checks the spirit without touching it, and Arran was making whisky again.

See Lochranza Distillery · Isle of Arran
Open again1 hour ago

The Bavarian summerhouse in the grounds of Brodick Castle on Arran has reopened after its conservation.

Built into the sandstone cliff above Brodick Bay, it is the last of four made for Princess Marie of Baden after her marriage to the 11th Duke of Hamilton in 1843. A circular walk from the castle reaches it through the walled garden.

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By ferry1 hour agoIsle of ArranLochranza DistilleryAttractionIsle of ArranBeinn an Tuirc DistillersAttractionIsle of ArranLagg DistilleryAttraction

The island distilleries.

Islay, Jura, Skye, Arran, Orkney, Harris: reached by ferry, which is half the day.

See the island ones
From the magazine1 hour agoThe printed copy of Issue 03Issue 03Winter 2021

The photographer Virginie Chabrol found her picture on the frozen summit of Goatfell, on the Isle of Arran, only when her partner walked out of the fog.

One autumn, Virginie and her partner James, also a photographer, spotted a clear window of a few days in the forecast and climbed Goatfell to camp on the top and make the most of the light. They pitched their tent in thick cloud and woke to a frosted world, every rock on the summit covered in rime ice in delicate, feather-like patterns. It was 'a photographer’s dream', but everything was the same grey and white, with nothing to give depth or scale. Then James appeared from nowhere, a shadow moving in the fog, and 'it all clicked perfectly'. She had time for only a few frames before he vanished again, and it was enough.

Read the full story in Issue 03
Did you know1 hour ago

The rare plants around Brodick Castle are there because a duchess bought shares in plant-hunting expeditions.

Lady Mary Louise Hamilton, 6th Duchess of Montrose, began clearing great swathes of the garden in 1923 to make room for something newsworthy. To get hold of rare rhododendrons and azaleas she took shares in the expeditions themselves, among them those of the collectors George Forrest and Frank Kingdon-Ward, and was paid in seed. Arran's mild, wet micro-climate and a shelterbelt planted back in the 1700s do the rest: this is one of the few places in Britain where plants that tender will survive outdoors at all. Three National Collections of rhododendrons grow here now.

See Brodick Castle, Garden and Country Park · Isle of Arran
From our archive2 hours ago

Hutton’s Unconformity, Isle of Arran.

The rocks on Newton Shore near Lochranza where James Hutton found his first unconformity in 1787, a gap of about 190 million years between two layers.

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