Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 25 on 17/02/2006.

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Magic on Mull

Charles Douglas visits Torosay Castle on the Island of Mull

It provides an absorbing day-trip by ferry from the Argyllshire coastal town of Oban and back, but the attractions of the West Coast island of Mull deserve more time, if you can spare it. Caledonian MacBrayne runs a 40 minute service from Oban to Craignure on Mull’s northern shore, and from here roads lead north to Tobermory, the island’s only town, and south west towards the ferry to Iona.

If you take the car, then Torosay Castle and gardens is a run of 11/2 miles along the A849, but on foot there is a more direct and shorter forest walk. Better still, take the miniature railway from the Old Pier Station. The kids will love it.

David Guthrie-James and his mother Bridget inherited Torosay Castle in 1945, and though they briefly allowed it to become a hotel called The Tangle of the Isles, by 1972 it was decided that the family had the option of either letting it fall into decay, or of restoring it and sharing its many charms with others.

It was David who, with a railway enthusiast neighbour, came up with the idea of building the little 10-inch narrow gauge railway, a mile and a half long. Today, magnificent Torosay Castle, with its spectacular gardens and Statue Walk, is the home of David’s son Christopher.

David Guthrie-James was an intriguing character who served as Member of Parliament for Brighton Kemp Town, then North Dorset, in the south of England. As a young man he rounded the Horn as a deck hand on one of the last purely commercial Finnish four-masted barques, and.....

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By Charles Douglas

Section : Historic Houses

Page number : 16