Kilmun is one of the Shore villages on the south facing side of The Holy Loch, which is a sea loch into which run the Little Eschaig and Eschaig Rivers from Lock Eck. Holy Trees sits across the road from the River Eschaig as it joins The Holy Loch. It looks across Glen Masson and to its north runs the Loch Eck valley, with Benmore Gardens situated at the entrance to the valley.

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The weather

This is Scotland - it does sometimes rain. As Billy Connolly said “you only get wet in Scotland if you are wearing the wrong clothes!”. Actually most of the time the weather isn’t bad at all and many days are relatively dry and only interspersed with a few showers. You have the benefit of long days in the summer and beautiful “golden hour” as the sun sets. The slope up behind the Holly Trees is magnificent as it catches the evening sun - how about a piper up on top?

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Around the house

There is a set of steps that climb up around the rocky face behind Holly Trees. At the top there is a small summer house and a seating area. Immediately behind is forestry land with huge fir trees rising up the steep hill. From here you look out over the River Eschaig directly in front. This is a tidal river and you will see a significant rise and fall depending on the tides. Further on you look across to Glen Masson and to the left you see over to the Holy Loch. If you are an artist this is a good spot to take in the scenery, or maybe you’d just prefer a quiet glass of wine.

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Take a right turn out of the gate and about 300m further on there is a Victorian cast Iron Bridge which now leads through to a small holiday park and the Cotts Inn. It was the original road bridge across the River Eschaig and was built in 1886. Behind it the river pools at a point which used to be the site for netting huge numbers of trout. The garage on the other side of the park is the site of the Premier mini market, which has pretty much everything you need, if you don’t feel like driving into Dunoon.

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The Holy Loch is so named because of its long history of regligious settlement, dating back over 1300 years, when St Munn settled in Kilmun from Ireland. More recently Dunoon and The Holy Loch was the home of the US Navy submarine base until the 70’s. There is a wealth of history to discover.

St Munn’s church in Kilmun is the burial site of the Campbell chieftains and the Dukes Of Argyll. It has a steam powered organ and is packed with regional history. The tower of the original 1300s church still stands.