What's on in Isle Of Bute

The Isle of Bute is a picturesque island in the Scottish Firth of Clyde. Formerly a large part of the county of Buteshire, it is now part of the county of Argyll and Bute a region made up of mountains and jagged coastline, national parks and prehistoric sites, emerald isles and clear blue lochs. The former county of Bute or Buteshire was a Scottish local government county between 1890 and 1975 and is still a registration county for Scotland. That county covered the islands of the Firth of Clyde including the Isle of Bute, the Isle of Arran, Little Cumbrae and Great Cumbrae. Though the Isle of Bute remains part of ‘Argyll and Bute’, the other islands now come under North Ayrshire.

The Isle of Bute itself sits at the foot of the Cowal Peninsula, cut off by a body of water called the Kyles of Bute. Though only 5 miles wide and 15 miles long the Isle of Bute is one of the top holiday destinations in all of Scotland. Holidaymakers have been coming to Bute since the Victorian era and the town of Rothesay features a wonderful classic Victorian façade and pier on its seafront. Other sites in Rothesay include Rothesay Castle, with its strange circular plan and which once stood guard over Rothesay Bay, Mount Stewart, the magnificent ancestral home of the Bute Stuarts with a gorgeous garden, Bute Museum and Ascog Hall, Victorian Fernery and Gardens.

The scenery is the best bit of Bute however with the Highland Boundary Fault line bisecting the island and creating stark contrasts (and exceptional views), with three hills above 800 feet in the north: Windy Hill, Kilbride Hill and Kames Hill. In comparison the south of the island is low, made up of gently undulating fields and countryside, with a number of charming bays and quiet villages, as well as the wonderful unspoiled beaches. An island that must be seen.