Kay L.
Yelp
Mount Stuart leaves an impression - to sum it up in a single word? Vast. The grounds are expansive, the house itself looks grand and imposing from the outside and opulent in a 'tardis' kind of way on the inside.
You can only wander through Mount Stuart by buying a ticket for the guided tour - which I would recommend anyway. There is so much detail in the house, and the reasons for those details and the concepts behind the house's creation and design are intriguing and well worth the ticket price.
There were only two detractions from the guided tour. The first was that there simply wasn't enough time to really absorb things. Apparently, they do organise special interest tours but it would have been nice to be able to stop and read the inscription on the carved wooden chest, for example, without being hurried along (and just shy of told off!) by the guide bringing up the rear of the tour.
The other thing was that, while our tour guide was informative, politely engaging, and interesting, she did gloss over certain things and seemed to be stuck in the 'no one's really interested in history these days' mode of a woman on a school excursion route. I felt, on a couple of occasions, like correcting her comments about people not really being that interested and suggesting that, actually, me and a dozen other people had paid for tickets because we *were* interested, so could we stop and get more information on that? Overall, though, she was quite good - I just personally found this a little frustrating, as did a woman who was particularly interested in the tapestries and glass detail throughout the House.
The highlight, for me, was the Marble Chapel. A room full of light so beautiful it caused the entire group to hush with no prompting, the way incredible architecture or things of great beauty can affect even a disparate group of people. In the cosmati style, it cements the idea you get from the rest of the castle - that the influences on this building are truly cosmopolitan; that the man who had conceived of it was happy to blend Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, Middle Eastern, Scottish and other influences into a truly sensory experience. The detail and history of the house is wonderfully varied and yet expertly blended at the seams so you notice only the whole picture, not the manner in which it has been put together - which is one of the keys to great art.
There is too much history and detail for this wee review - but it is definitely worth the trip to the Isle of Bute for the experience. Spending a day roaming the gardens (whether the rock garden, the kitchen gardens, the bowling green, the Pinetums or the 'policies'), simply doing the tour of the house or enjoying the hangar-like restaurant that is all wood and windows and which serves extremely good local produce in a tasty, seasonal menu, it will be an experience that will definitely leave an impression.
*Trip info: Train from Glasgow to Gourock (or drive - there is parking at the ferry terminal for a few pounds a day), ferry to Rothesay, bus or local taxi to Mount Stuart. We walked from our B&B, which took us between 2-3 hours but we had stopped for a wee swim (with the seals!) and a couple of other sight-seeing places.