What’s going for it? OK, let’s get Paul McCartney and That Song out of the way straight off the bat. Millions of lives were tragically blighted in the 70s by Mull Of Kintyre, number one in the pop charts for about 47 years. Watching the video with wiser, middle-aged eyes, though, I appreciate it anew. Not the dirge. That still plods like a knackered horse. But the place. Look behind Paul and the bagpipers: that’s Saddell Bay, north of the Mull. Gorgeous, isn’t it? No wonder McCartney bought High Park Farm up here in the 60s to escape Beatlemania, grow a beard, learn how to milk sheep and love mud, like some kind of proto-downshifting-hipster. He doesn’t come much any more, but the Kintyre peninsula – 20 miles of heather, oystercatchers, astonishing beaches and a fair few whisky distilleries dangling from Britain by a thread – still feels the perfect place to escape the universe. All together now, “Muuuuuuull of Kintyre…”
The case against That song will roll around your head for ever. The Mull of Kintyre Test (Google it). It’s a long way from anything but the Isle of Arran.
Well connected? Don’t be absurd. To Glasgow, there are flights most days from Campbeltown airport, and several buses a day (about four hours). Plenty of ferries connect various spots to the “mainland”, Arran and Northern Ireland. Driving: it’s just over an hour top to bottom; around four hours to Glasgow.
Schools Primaries: Drumlemble, Clachan, Rhunahaorine and Glenbarr mostly “very good”. Secondaries: Campbeltown Grammar is mostly “good”, Tarbert Academy “very good”.
Hang out at… Muneroy Tearoom in Southend at the tip for fabulous cake. Dunvalanree hotel for posh.
Where to buy First decision: do you want to face left or right, west or east, the Atlantic or Arran and the mainland? Kintyre is a long, thin ridge, so you’re mostly one side or the other, and rarely more than five miles from the sea. Campbeltown is the capital: a rather grey, stern spot, all shipbuilding and whisky. Tarbert, at the top, is jollier. Otherwise, it’s cottages, barns and farmhouses with land. And bungalows, if you’re not Paul McCartney. Large detacheds and town houses, £300,000-£600,000. Detacheds and smaller town houses, £120,000-£300,000. Semis, £75,000-£175,000. Terraces and cottages, £60,000-£150,000. Flats, £30,000-£130,000. Verrrrry few rentals. Lots of plots.
Bargain of the week I doubt a Beatle would consider it, but this detached, two-bed cottage in Saddell, for £135,000, might be perfect for you, sbsproperty.co.uk.
From the streets
Niall Macalister Hall “My family has been here since the early 1800s; I came home four years ago for the scenery and tranquility, and to start a distillery. Very wet.”
Iain Johnston “Four music festivals, and fantastic beaches at Kintyre and Gigha – miles of sandy dunes. Surfing at Westport and Machrihanish.”
Live in the Kintyre peninsula? Join the debate below.
Do you live in Windsor and Eton, Berkshire? Do you have a favourite haunt or pet hate? If so, email lets.move@theguardian.com by Tuesday 26 September.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion