A visit to the Isle of Bute

To begin with, some of us may have to ask the question; “Where exactly is the Isle of Bute?” Well, the answer may not be obvious to everyone, but it is a beautiful and very picturesque island located off the west coast of Scotland, near the estuary of the famous River Clyde and amid rugged mountainous landscapes and coastal waterways known as the Kyles of Bute. . This wonderful, slightly tropical Scottish island has gained fame over many centuries of history, yet it is even more famous in more recent times when throughout the industrial revolution and most of the 19th century it became known as the Rivera of Scotland.

From the city of Glasgow, one of Scotland’s major industrial and now cultural cities, an annual pilgrimage of vacationers set sail from Glasgow’s Broomilaw Pier in any of the more than twenty famous paddle steamers, which went to what they called “Doon the Wattir.” “for the Gleskay Fair. In our language, this means navigating the water for the Glasgow Fair, which is a two-week period in mid-July each year when most of the workers were on their annual leave. These Paddle steamers with names like The Jeannie Deans, The Waverley, The Queen Mary 2 and many others, were packed to the brim with tourists heading to the coastal town of Rothesay (pronounced Roth-say) on the Isle of Bute. Even in Victorian times these pilgrimages were popular as the island offered low cost accommodation, mainly good weather, lots of free or low cost activities and for the upper classes it even had two quite spectacular Victorian Hydros. Known today as spas hydropathic and expensive hotels. Rothesay also had many pubs and guest houses and there was always live music and singing in almost all of them. Another very popular place on the island for tourists was the histor ico almost contiguous fishing village of Port Bannatyne, built along the shores of a bay just around the corner from the main center of Rothesay. The views from Port Bannatyne are quite impressive looking across the curving bay and the Kyles of Bute towards the mouth and rugged mountains of Loch Striven on the mainland coast.

Bute is an island that even to this day is governed by a thing called the Feudal System, dating back to the days of Mary, Queen of Scots. In simple terms, it means that the island and in this case its shores and the shores in front of it are owned, managed and controlled by the Stuart family. Same Stuart family as previously named Mary. In recent years when I was last on the island it was owned by Sir David Crighton Stuart or Lord Bute as he was better known. From his family home and the summit of power called Mount Stewart, he would run his empire when he resided there. Of course, he also had numerous managers, land factors, and agents to do all the work for him when he was not in residence. Even the fifty-three farms on the island are owned by the late Lord Bute (also known as the Marquis of Bute) and are all operated by tenant farmers, as they have been for hundreds of years. The feudal system is so strict that I can remember a time when Lord Bute returned to the island in his large yacht called King Duck 3, drove to Rothesay on business and noticed that one of the buildings had a new window installed at the end of the gable . , where before there was no window.

Then he immediately went to the City Council and demanded to know who had granted the building permit for this new window. From there, he amplified the matter to such an extent that the planning committee met and ruled that said window should be removed again and the resulting hole blocked to match the existing building. When residents, even privately owned homes, request planning consent, the planning committee has to execute each request beyond your Lordship for approval. If you don’t approve the request, it will never be approved. That said, the people of Bute are a happy and mostly contented bunch, all well used to and accepting of their feudal system and everything in it. In the 1970s and into the 1980s, the Isle of Bute suffered greatly as its number of tourists slowly and steadily declined. Many of the most beloved steamers were decommissioned and scrapped and the hotels and guesthouses on the island were deteriorating inside and out, mainly due to the fact that Lord Bute never wanted much to change on the island and as such, it would never grant any permission for building improvements and modernizations.

Very shortly after the late Lord Bute’s death in 1970, the island began to show signs of new life again, with a serious program of modernization and improvement in Rothesay and in many of the formerly popular tourist spots around the island. People knew they had to do something to win back the tourist crowd, and as the world got smaller with lower-cost flights to faraway destinations, they had to do something fast. There is very little alternative industry on the island other than tourism and agriculture, so Rothesay was revamped, including the famous pier and boardwalk. Guest houses and hotels were improved and brought into the modern era with private baths and bars for residents and very soon, thanks to the never-ending efforts of the local chamber of commerce and the island’s tourism folks, Bute returned to stand firmly on the map as a wonderful place to visit.

A mysterious island off the Scottish coast where strange stone circles from the time of the Druids are still preserved, there is a real and operational gold mine and horse-drawn trams could take tourists through Rothesay Bay passing through endless palm trees and beautiful gardens and water fountains. Golf courses with spectacular views, small boats for rent by the hour, horses to stroll along the shore and an atmosphere of serene tranquility. With the warm water of the Gulf Stream hitting the Bute side of the Sea and the majestic Argyll Mountains providing refuge inland, the island has always tended to enjoy a moderate and sometimes almost tropical climate. If you are ever in Scotland and travel to its west coast, the Isle of Bute is a must as part of your itinerary. You can visit the manor house of the Stuarts, with its mixed architecture or towers and spiers and its own family chapel in pure marble. There is so much to see and do and as always there is never enough time to do it all.