Idyllic Days in Airds Bay
Spend time in Airds Bay exploring the rock pools and coastal caves, clambering along the craggy cliffs, picnics and barbecues on the beach, wading right out at high tide in the shallow water, or swimming beyond.
Airds Estate is the ideal gateway to the Scottish wilderness. It is nestled in a calm, private bay, the cottages just metres from a pretty shallow beach perfect for paddling and picnics. There is nothing between you and the view, or beyond the sound of the oystercatchers crossing the water, yet you are just a 5 minute walk from picturesque Port Appin with its excellent shop, award-winning restaurant, local craft and coffee shop, and ferry to nearby Lismore island. It is the perfect base for exploring the area, secluded yet within reach of everything you need, and all in under a 2.5 hour drive from Glasgow.
Surrounded by the wildlife and wilderness of Argyll’s West Coast, Airds Estate is the perfect retreat from your busy everyday life, and an ideal springboard for exploring the region. There is something for everyone, from cosy days spent in the cottage, to afternoons on the beach, picnics and barbecues, coastal walks and kayaking.
I do not know a place where all the elements, often incongruous ones, of mountains, lakes, wood, rocks, castles, sea, shipping, and cultivation are so strangely intermixed, where they are so wildly picturesque, and where they produce a greater variety of the most singular and unexpected scenes. – Dr Maculloch, Gazeteer of Scotland, 1882
Airds House is a beautiful Georgian house built in 1738 in the style of Robert Adam. It was built for Donald Campbell of Airds, the 4th Baron or Ardnamurchan and Airds whose family crest is carved into the pediment on the house’s facade. Hearsay suggests it was built as a hunting lodge. It was designed to look impressive when viewed from the sea, which would have been the primary access at the time it was built. Its next owner, Robert MacFie, was duly delighted by the house when he passed on his yacht, La Belle Anglaise, in 1851. He instantly fell in love with it and bought it a month later for £26,000. He lived a long, happy life at Airds where he died in 1899. The estate was sold in 1909 then again in 1945. The grandparents of the current owners bought the house in 1956.