Iassociate Argyll with stunning scenery, “soft” (wet) days, lush vegetation (courtesy of the soft days), and some of the worst midgie bites of my life. But still, I love this region and its gentle ways. Much of what’s best about this tranquil region of Scotland is exemplified by the Isle of Eriska, a private island close to Oban, which just happens to come with a five-star hotel boasting a recently Michelin-starred chef and new hilltop self-catering retreats. Set on a 300-acre estate, the island sits at the mouth of Loch Creran, with spectacular views to Loch Linnhe and the Morvern mountains. Stay in one of the retreats and from your private deck, as you bubble away in your personal hot tub, you can enjoy sunsets over the islands before taking the five-minute stroll to the nearby 25-bedroom main house, which operates as a successful Relais & Chateaux five -star hotel. There you can be rewarded with a meal that will be a culinary highlight for 2017. A nice little combo. You can now buy your own little piece of this private island, as the owners are offering partownership of these selfcatering bijoux houses. It’ll cost you £10,000 plus VAT, and give you 70 nights accommodation over 10 years with no maintenance fees.

1. 6 April 30, 2017 The Sunday Times
Travel
SCOTTISH
NEWS
lTouch of Class Travel has a great
offer on three nights at the Ritz-
Carlton hotel in Abu Dhabi. Half board
and flights from Edinburgh between
May and July 15 from £559pp. 0843
216 0451, touchofclasstravel.co.uk
lDunalastair Hotel Suites, in the heart
of Kinloch Rannoch, Perthshire,
reopened its doors on May 1 following
a two-year, multimillion-pound
renovation. The modern five-star
boutique hotel features innovative
architecture, bespoke furniture and a
modern colour palette, making guests
feel they are in a contemporary,
luxurious home away from home.
Opening rates are from £155 for a
superior suite. dunalastairhotel.com
lBritish Airways is to launch weekly
flights from Edinburgh to Palma in
June with basic, each-way fares from
£59. Flights will operate Fridays
throughout the summer, departing
from Edinburgh at 6.15am, arriving in
Palma at 10.15am local time, offering
plenty of time for tapas, above, before
the return flight at 11.10am, arriving
back in Edinburgh at 1.15pm. ba.com
lWow Air, Iceland’s only low-cost
airline, has announced a new service
from Edinburgh to Chicago beginning
in July 2017, with fares from £139.
Flights go via Reykjavik, bringing the
capital city’s diverse culture, dramatic
skyscapes, acclaimed gastronomy and
lively sporting scene to Scottish
travellers on a budget. wowair.co.uk
Apart from the infectious camaraderie
of the international staff, the other abiding
memory I take away is the plethora of
wildlife on your doorstep.
10LOCAL
HIGHLIGHTS
1. Falls of Lora. This tidal race forms when
the water level in the Firth of Lorn drops
below the level of the water in Loch Etive
as the high tide goes out.
2. Tralee Bay. A “proper Scottish beach”,
where you can stomp out the drams of the
night before, is a short walk from Eriska.
3. Ardchattan Priory and Gardens. On
the north shore of Loch Etive, this special
place was established more than 700
years ago and is one of Scotland’s
finest gardens.
4. Cruise up Loch Etive.
The loch stretches some
20 miles inland to the
mountains of Glencoe,
and has a colony of seals.
5. Dunstaffnage Castle.
Surrounded on three sides
by the sea, the castle,
pictured, dates back to the 13th
century.
6. Bonawe Iron Furnace. This ironworks
from the mid-18th century produved
cannonballs for the navy at Trafalgar.
7. Isle of Lismore. This beautiful, fertile
island with an ancient history is well
worth the ferry trip.
8. Oban. The “gateway to the isles” is
shabby in parts, but wonderfully nostalgic
for the Saga generation.
9. The Robin’s Nest tea room. For great
homemade cake, Taynuilt is one of the
best places in Scotland to enjoy it.
10. Scottish Sealife Sanctuary.
Scotland’s largest marine mammal rescue
centre operates a highly successful “rear
and release” programme for seal pups.
01631 720 371, eriska-hotel.co.uk
YOUR
PRIVATE
ISLANDThe Isle of Eriska hotel is offering part-ownership of
its hilltop retreats, complete with private deck and
hot tub, just a stroll away from its Michelin-starred
restaurant.ScottishtraveleditorKatieWoodsoaksitin
I
associate Argyll with stunning
scenery, “soft” (wet) days, lush
vegetation (courtesy of the soft
days), and some of the worst
midgie bites of my life. But still, I
love this region and its gentle ways.
Much of what’s best about this tranquil
region of Scotland is exemplified by the
Isle of Eriska, a private island close to
Oban, which just happens to come with
a five-star hotel boasting a recently
Michelin-starred chef and new hilltop
self-catering retreats.
Set on a 300-acre estate, the island sits
at the mouth of Loch Creran, with
spectacular views to Loch Linnhe and the
Morvern mountains. Stay in one of the
retreats and from your private deck, as
you bubble away in your personal hot tub,
you can enjoy sunsets over the islands
before taking the five-minute stroll to the
nearby 25-bedroom main house, which
operates as a successful Relais & Chateaux
five -star hotel. There you can be
rewarded with a meal that will
be a culinary highlight for
2017. A nice little combo.
You can now buy your
own little piece of this
private island, as the
owners are offering part-
ownership of these self-
catering bijoux houses.
It’ll cost you £10,000 plus
VAT, and give you 70 nights
accommodation over 10 years
with no maintenance fees.
Between now and June you can try
before you buy and, if you do sign, you’ll
get back the £500 fee for the three-night
taster stay — the norm is £300 a night,
based on three nights. Even if you don’t
choose to buy, this is a bargain because
the quality is exceptional.
There’s plenty to do: there’s a six-hole
golf course, soon to be nine, with
shortbread-tin views, a driving range,
putting green, croquet lawn, mountain
bikes and clay pigeon shooting. In the
Stables Spa there’s a 17-metre indoor pool
with sauna and steam room, plus a variety
of treatments on offer.
The wonderfully modest chef Paul
Leonard is a real gem. Previously with
Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, his seven-
course degustation menu is a treat at £90
— and likely he’ll have grown or smoked
half the ingredients himself.
The 40-variety cheese trolley is worth
the journey alone.
Kayaking on the
Falls of Lora at the
mouth of Loch
Etive, left; Tralee
Bay and Lochnell
Castle, a short
walk from the Isle
of Eriska, near
Oban

2. The Sunday Times April 30, 2017 7
L
ike us, they’re co-joined by a
bigger, bolshier neighbour, but
that’s just the start of the list
entitled What We Have In
Common with Our Canadian
Cousins. About 5m Canadians claim
Scottish descent, and of the 22 Canadian
prime ministers to date, 13 had Scottish
heritage, including the first, Sir John
Macdonald, born in Glasgow in 1815.
While more Canadian cities are now
accessible from Scotland, the main city we
still choose is Toronto, which is served
three and four times a week from Glasgow
and Edinburgh from June to September.
I enjoyed the service from the Air
Canada Rouge flight attendants, who are
young with funky uniforms and a “can-
do” attitude — they’re trained in customer
service at the Disney Institute in Orlando.
They paint children’s faces, get the kids to
help out with the water service, and make
puppets out of sick bags — try getting that
on BA.
While its planes don’t have seatback
entertainment, Rouge does have a cool
app to download before boarding. The
aircraft all use Player, a next-generation
in-flight system that streams unlimited live
entertainment to your electronic device.
Toronto’s cultural
diversity makes it
foodie heaven,
writes Katie Wood
Since I was last in Toronto, even more
skyscrapers and shopping malls have
been built, and its “underground city” is
now officially the largest mall in North
America, with more than 30km of
connected walkways and 1,200 stores.
Known as Path, it’s a network of
pedestrian tunnels and elevated walkways
connecting the office towers of Toronto.
About 200,000 people avoid the harsh
winter by living and working here in a
troglodyte existence in which a thick coat
is unnecessary. Much as I dislike the
freezing winds making my face actually
hurt, I wouldn’t join the subterranean
crowd. I’ll go in summer or wear a scarf
and bunnet so I can enjoy the city’s
greatest asset: its cultural diversity.
Toronto has a plethora of international
neighbourhoods that give it real zing. Half
the city’s population was born outside
Canada, and about 130 languages and
dialects are spoken there. It’s one of the
most cosmopolitan places on earth, and I
love that you can eat your way around the
world without leaving the city. Where do I
start? Little Italy, Little Portugal,
Greektown, Chinatown, Koreatown, Little
India — this is foodie heaven. Many visitors
come to the city simply to eat.
There are great walking tours for
gourmands that take in markets such as
Kensington and the 200-year-old St
Lawrence Market, voted the best indoor
market in the world by National
Geographic magazine. This is where to
sample Ukrainian pierogies, Jewish
bagels, Portuguese sweets, Indian candy,
local cheeses, and the city’s famous
peameal bacon sandwich, slapped with
honey mustard. Round off your feast with
a Toronto butter tart, reminiscent of a
runny treacle tart — a sugar rush to fuel
any sightseer for further exploration.
The Distillery District is home to
designer boutiques, artisan shops, art
galleries, cafes, performance venues and
award-winning restaurants. The
pedestrian-only village features more than
70 outlets in the restored Victorian-era
Gooderham & Worts whisky distillery.
One quirky and surprisingly enjoyable
place is the Bata Shoe Museum. It began as
a monument to the personal passion for
shoes of Sonja Bata, who had been
collecting shoes of every type since the
1940s. By 1979 her collection had
outgrown her storage space, so her family
established the Bata Shoe Museum
Foundation in 1995. It has everything from
shoes worn by indigenous people to shoes
from every era of fashion. In the “walk of
fame” there are shoes worn by John
Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and Picasso.
It may be a cliché but it’s still worth
visiting the city’s landmark CN Tower,
with its Skypod observation deck lying
447 metres (135 storeys) up. In my
opinion, however, it’s not worth driving
two hours to get to Niagara Falls — I’ve
seen more impressive falls without all the
queues, hype and souvenir shops.
I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which
I’d recommend for a splurge, but Toronto
has accommodation of every type.
Air Canada Rouge runs non-stop summer
services from Edinburgh and Glasgow to
Toronto. Economy return from Edinburgh
from £452.94, and Glasgow from £449.26
(inc taxes); 0871 220 1111, aircanada.com;
ontariotravel.net, seetorontonow.com
COSMOPOLITAN
CANADA
Toronto is home to restaurants from every corner of the globe and food markets such as the 200-year-old St Lawrence
The Toronto skyline grows ever more crowded, but the CN Tower, with its observation deck 447 metres up, still stands out
If you need an excuse to travel to beautiful Islay you have
it in the form of the Festival of Music and Malt, taking
place this year from May 26 to June 3. With its celebration
of traditional music, ceilidhs, the Gaelic language, golf,
bowling and whisky, it’s pretty much all that’s best about
Scotland wrapped up neatly in one place.
All the island’s distilleries hold open days throughout
the week of the festival, so it’s a great opportunity to
sample the wonders of our national drink and decide on
your favourite.
Islay may be a mere 240 square miles in size and have
around 3,500 inhabitants, but it has no fewer than eight
distilleries. The whisky hailing from this southern
Hebridean isle is best known for its peaty, smoky quality
— a veritable bonfire in a glass.
Of course, these days it’s not just whisky that’s making
a name for itself : “Mother’s ruin” has had a notable
resurgence in recent years and island gins are now all the
rage. Barra, Colonsay, Jura, Arran, Skye and Harris have
some stunning examples of handcrafted, artisanal
Scottish gins. Over 70 per cent of gin made in the UK is
now produced in Scotland.
Even the small isle of Colonsay has its own gin — not
one but two — Wild Thyme Spirits and Wild Island Botanic
Gin. The latter is made using traditional gin botanicals
combined with an array of botanicals specific to the
island, including lemon balm, meadowsweet, wild water
mint, heather flowers, bog myrtle and sea buckthorn.
Harris gin has nine specially selected botanicals and
reflects the maritime influence of this delightful island.
Sugar kelp is key to this spirit. Hand-harvested by a local
diver from the deep underwater forests of the Outer
Hebrides, this natural ingredient gives Harris gin its
unique flavour.
Across Scotland, independent whisky distillers are
increasingly favouring gin over whisky as it’s quicker and
easier to make and gives them a faster return.
In 2010 gin sales, at £774million a year, were about half
those of scotch. Today both are worth about £1.2billion,
although by 2020 gin is predicted to soar to more than
£1.5billion while scotch sales will remain flat, according
to Euromonitor market research.
Better known for its whiskies, Islay also has The
Botanist gin which was conceived and is distilled and
handcrafted at the Bruichladdich distillery on that
beautiful island. It uses 22 handpicked local botanicals
and nine berries, then adds barks, seeds and peels
during a slow distillation.
There’s something very special about travelling to the
island where a special bottle of gin comes from. Every
time you enjoy a tipple it will bring back memories of
your trip — a veritable tonic!
All these islands, and many more, can be reached by
CalMac Ferries — where everyone gets mates rates.
ISLANDTREATSTO
LIFTTHESPIRITS
Artisan gins are now vying for a place
among traditional Hebridean malts
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