Visit to Ardkinglas on Loch Fyne

Thursday 23 October - 9:00am
Ardkinglas is in Cairndow at the head of Loch Fyne in Argyll. The house was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and is said to be his masterpiece.

Stephanie writes: I want to arrange a visit to Ardkinglas House and Gardens on Thursday 23 October. Ardkinglas was the home of Michael Noble, Secretary of State for Scotland from 1962 to 1964, and it is still owned and occupied by the Noble family. The house gardens comprise an ornamental lake, a D-shaped walled garden and a ladies' garden.  The Woodland Garden is famous for its trees and I do hope that the foliage will be spectacular towards the end of October.
The programme for the day is as follows:
0900 Dochertys coach will leave PC World car park in Stirling
10.30 Arrival at Ardkinglas House for coffee
1100 Tour of house and house gardens
12.45 Coach will take us to a restaurant for lunch* 10 minutes away
1415 Coach will return us to the Woodland garden where the gardener will meet us and point us in the direction of the most interesting trees.
1615 Coach will leave and return to Stirling at around 1800.
*There are two possibilities for lunch:
1. Loch Fyne Oyster Bar - you don't have to have oysters but it's difficult to avoid fish as most of the main courses contain fish.   It is expensive (main courses average £15) but the meals are very good.
2. Right next door and sharing the same coach park is the Tree Shop Garden Centre and Cafe which serves soup, sandwiches etc.
I don't have to make reservations at the Tree Shop but I will have to book tables at the Oyster Bar so please let me know if you want to have lunch there.
The costs of the day are as follows:
Tour of Ardkinglas House, House Gardens and Woodland Garden, with coffee on arrival, is £14.
Coach from Stirling to Ardkinglas and return is £16.  The total is therefore £30 and does not include lunch.
Please let me know as soon as possible if you wish to come along.  I need at least 21 people to make this trip viable by covering the cost of the coach.  Once the total is reached I will ask you to let Isabel have a cheque.  I am grateful to Isabel for offering to take the money in light of the fact that she's still suffering from a very painful shoulder.
Please let Stephanie Tytler know if you would like to join this outing.
stephanietytler1@yahoo.co.uk