- A magnificent location looking down the length of Loch Awe
- An outstanding dining experience in a restaurant with great views
- A choice of high quality and well appointed guest rooms
- Comfortable and varied public areas in a building of considerable charm
- The perfect getaway location in which to sit back and unwind
Intro
The Taychreggan Hotel stands in private well kept gardens on the quiet west side of Loch Awe in Argyll. A building which has grown organically over four or more centuries, it has real charm and offers guests a varied choice of 18 excellent en-suite guest rooms, some with four posters and many with views down or across the loch. The public rooms are equally varied and interesting.
The restaurant offers a five course table d'hote dinner menu which can be very highly recommended. It is with good reason that the Taychreggan has been awarded 2 AA rosettes for its dining. Less clear is why the hotel itself only has a 3 Star grading: it easily surpasses many 4 Star hotels.
Character and setting/location
The Taychreggan Hotel can be found some seven miles south of Taynuilt on the B845, which simply concludes in a turning circle in front of the hotel on the west shore of Loch Awe. The hotel itself is essentially a whitewashed U-shaped building which has been extended and remodelled many times over the centuries.
The hotel started life in the 1600s as a drovers' inn on a promontory jutting into Loch Awe. Being the narrowest crossing point of a very long north-south aligned loch, herds of Highland cattle were driven here from western Argyll before being swum across the loch en route to Lowland markets. The drovers would cross using a ferry whose successor was still shown as operating on the 1900 Ordnance Survey maps displayed in the hotel.
The setting is idyllic, with gardens that go down to the loch to the front and one side of the hotel. The ferry and the cattle are both long gone, and today the only people who come to Taychreggan are those who wish to be here. This adds to a sense of tranquility and a silence that, certainly on a day with little wind, is both profound and extremely hard to find in this day and age.
Public rooms/spaces
The hotel has a complex floorplan resulting from its incremental growth, but you soon find your way around. The front entrance brings you into a roomy reception area from which a staircase leads up to some of the guest rooms. Off to the right of the reception is a comfortable and spacious guest lounge enjoying superb views over the lawns to the loch: with a fire at one end to warm you up on cold evenings. The other end is home to a piano. The same south west range of the hotel also has a second smaller lounge, with the same views, and a snooker room with a full size antique table.
The north east range of the hotel forms the second upright of the “U”, though as it has been extended to twice its original length it turns the overall plan into something more like a “J”. About half of this range forms the lounge bar, which offers a nice range of wines and beers, and takes particular pride in its collection of over 50 single malt whiskies. The other end of the same range forms the dining room, which can be divided in half. The dining room makes the most of the views down Loch Awe with its full length arched windows.
The public rooms are completed by a private meeting room to one side of the lounge bar that is capable of being closed off from it; and by the Orangerie, sited in what was previously the courtyard in the centre of the “U”.
Guest bedrooms
There are eighteen en-suite guest bedrooms at the Taychreggan Hotel. Half of these are located on the first floor of the “new” wing, which is the wing occupied at ground floor level by the dining room. The remaining rooms are in the older part of the hotel, and occupy the upper floor of the south west and south east ranges.
The rooms come in a variety of gradings. The master suite is located in the new wing and offers a sitting room and bedroom and a bathroom with spa bath. There are eight junior suites, four in the new wing and four in the older part of the hotel. Seven of them enjoy magnificent loch views and three of the junior suites in the older part of the hotel have four poster beds. There are a total of five superior rooms, two of which have loch views, and there are four standard rooms, which are located in the new wing and overlook the rear of the hotel and the car park.
All the rooms tend to be on the spacious side and all are highly appointed, beautifully furnished and well equipped. The en-suite bathrooms are especially spacious: all have baths and many additionally have a walk in shower. There is a description and photograph of each room on the hotel's web site.
Guest services
As already noted, the level of fixtures and fittings in the guest rooms is exceptionally high. Guests arrive to find bottled water, a tea and coffee making tray, sherry, a large flat screen TV, magazines, a telephone/radio/alarm clock, and a hairdryer. The spacious bathrooms have bathrobes and a range of Gilchrist & Soames toiletries.
WiFi is available in the public areas of the hotel, though mobile phone reception is patchy, depending on exact location and service provider. The most reliable spot is said to be at the end of the hotel's stone jetty, once used by the long defunct ferry across the loch.
Disabled access is reasonable to the ground floor of the hotel and in the public areas, and there is disabled toilet provision on the ground floor. Level access is possible to the upper floor of part of the hotel from the car park at the rear, but there are no specially adapted rooms.
Baby listening devices and a babysitting service can be arranged. Babies and small children are not permitted in the dining room during dinner service: instead an earlier high tea is provided for children. Very well behaved dogs are allowed to accompany guests staying in standard rooms for a small fee. They are not permitted in the public areas.
Restaurant and dining experience
The dining experience at the Taychreggan Hotel is superb. The hotel has been awarded 2 AA Rosettes for its dining every year for many years, and the arrival of chef Colin Cairns in 2009 seems likely to ensure that the hotel remains a beacon of culinary excellence for some time to come.
Dinner is served between 7.30 and 9pm in the dining room on the ground floor of the hotel's new wing. This can be divided into two separate areas to allow private dining to take place at one end. On entering the restaurant your attention is immediately drawn to the line of full length arched windows along one side, giving magnificent views out over Loch Awe.
The five course table d'hote dinner menu changes daily. Within it guests are offered a choice between two starters, two mains and two sweets or the option of cheese. Any detailed discussion can only be a snapshot of one particular day's menu, but after a superb appetiser of celeriac and Dunsyre Blue veloute, our starter choice was between risotto of butternut squash with walnuts, or carpaccio of beef fillet. Both were equally good. The passion fruit sorbet which followed was a perfect palate cleanser.
The main course choice was between breast of guinea fowl and baked fillet of cod. Each fully lived up to the expectations raised by what had gone before. A perfect hot chocolate fondant and pistachio crusted ice cream was an ideal conclusion to the meal, and the cheese choice was fresh and enticing, and presented with home made biscuits. An excellent experience in the dining room is rounded off with coffee and petit fours served in the lounge.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served in the dining room between 8am and 10am, though room service and early alternatives can be arranged. The experience of dinner will have given you high hopes for breakfast, and they are certainly not disappointed. The starter course is from a self service buffet, and besides all the usual choices includes beautifully presented fresh fruit and an excellent home made fruit compote.
Tea and coffee are served at your table, as is a basket of warm toast made from home made bread, and warm croissants: which can be enjoyed with the home made preserves set out on the table.
Main course options range from all the components of a traditional fried breakfast to smoked haddock or salmon, or cold honey roast ham with cheese and pineapple. If you go for the traditional fried option you will find yourself served with one of the very best fried breakfasts you are likely to find anywhere. We found every element to be superb, from beautiful scrambled eggs to perfect black pudding.
Meetings and events facilities
The hotel's private meeting room can seat up to 25 and the hotel can provide the full range of equipment necessary to ensuring a successful meeting or conference, plus coffees, lunches, teas and dinners if required plus, of course, accommodation.
Taychreggan's location and facilities make it a very attractive venue for a get-away-from-it-all wedding where the whole hotel can be taken over on an exclusive use basis. Taychreggan is licensed for civil or religious ceremonies either within the hotel itself or in the gardens overlooking the loch.
Leisure
Leisure is at the heart of what the Taychreggan Hotel is all about. For some guests this will mean no more than sitting back and enjoying the remarkable tranquility of this lovely place. For others it can mean making the most of the walking and climbing available in this part of Argyll. Meanwhile, the hotel has its own fishing rights on Loch Awe, and a boat and ghillie: fly fishing lessons are available if required. Other activities that can be arranged, depending on season, include, falconry, ferreting, stalking, archery, and air rifle and clay pigeon shooting.
Service highs/lows
From the moment you arrive at the Taychreggan Hotel you know you have discovered somewhere very special. The location is magnificent, and at the risk of repetition, the public rooms, the guest rooms and the quality of the dining are all superb. Service is personal and friendly, while being low key and unobtrusive. The quality of the housekeeping throughout the hotel is outstanding.
Local points of interest
Loch Awe is the longest freshwater loch in Scotland, measuring some 25 miles long and stretching from north east to south west. The main A85 to Oban runs along its north shore, while the A819 from Dalmally to Inveraray runs close to a short stretch of the north end of its eastern shore. But even for those who know Scotland well, most of Loch Awe and the very large area of Argyll which surrounds it are unknown and very rarely visited. The roads that run down both shores are narrow and lengthy, and offer only limited access to the loch itself. One of the things that makes the Taychreggan Hotel so special is that it gives excellent access to, and superb views along and across, this underappreciated loch.
Meanwhile the hotel is located some 7 miles from Taynuilt and just under 20 from Oban itself, making it an ideal touring base for northern Argyll and the wider area. Find out more from the Undiscovered Scotland guide to the Oban Area.
Target/ideal markets
The Taychreggan Hotel appeals primarily to the leisure market: especially to those interested in walking, fishing or simply stopping the world and getting off for a day or two. The romantic setting also makes it an excellent venue for exclusive use weddings.
Taychreggan Hotel
Tel: 01866 833 211
www.taychregganhotel.co.uk
