Mount Stuart

Didn't go in the house, but visited the ground which are beautiful and fantastic for walking. You can access the beach from the grounds as well which is super quiet and feels like your own personal shoreline. Staff in the cafe super friendly and a great selection of food and drink.

Incredibly beautiful Castle-like mansion. Structure built in late 1800's by a Coal Baron. Incredible advanced heating system and electric lighting for it's age. Inside it's like a museum with marble structures, old clocks, built in chapel and even an Indoor heated swimming pool. Outside gardens beautiful.

Fantastic house and gardens. Great history and beautiful decoration. Very different from other houses of this era and size. Staff are excellent. Info and help all around.

Definitely worth a visit. Very interesting and absolutely fantastic architecture. Gorgeous grounds. Can spend at least half a day and longer wandering about the gardens and have a pic nic.

Possibly one of the superlative tourist attractions in the whole of Scotland, but few know about it. Architecturally and aesthetically exquisite. The architect, Robert Rowand Anderson, was prolific but under-appreciated. Lord Bute had remarkable, refined taste. No one would be disappointed by their visit.

Absolutely magnificent. Such a stunning place. Guides in every room who are knowledgeable and friendly. A jaw dropping chapel and opulent bedrooms. Perfect!

Recommended visit if you are spending some time in Bute. Lovely gardens, impressive architecture in a fantastic location. Everything clean and well signed. Recommended

Very impressive building. The garden is quite large and reaches down to the sea. Parking is free. Be early enough because the cafe closes at 4pm and the house at 3pm.

In reality, we were looking to waste some time while we waited for check in at our hotel, but once we got here, we realised our trip here would be so much more than that. From the ferry port, the bus ride to get here is cheap and is about an 10-15 minutes and the bus runs regularly throughout the opening hours of Mount Stuart. We lucked out as we walked off the ferry, the bus basically pulled up and we joined the massive queue of other tourists looking to check out Mount Stuart. Upon arrival, we're greeted by a lovely garden and kids play area. The day was gorgeous, so we were really happy to be here. We all walked in to the Welcome Centre and because there was only one lady working the desk, it took a bit to get tickets to walk the grounds and tour the house. Once purchased, we were free to wander the grounds and the house (you can buy tickets just to walk the grounds for a lower amount). We hurried along to avoid getting caught in with all the other people who arrived with us. I was absolutely in love with the gorgeous sunny day and it couldn't have been more perfect. There was a slight breeze and the grounds are immaculate. I felt almost as though I was home in the states, the smells of the water and the forests just brought back really happy memories of always living and exploring the forests where I've lived. I told my guy that I needed a button to push that said "It's so beautiful here" because I think I said it about a million times. The grounds really are so beautiful. We passed the kitchen garden (but circled back around later) and headed up the road to the house. Wow, what a gorgeous house. Apparently, it's still used for weddings and such. There are so many rooms in this house, it's easy to get lost. We used the map we were given in the Welcome Centre and made our way around. Every room was furnished with gorgeous couches and beds (depending on the room) and the bathrooms were locked in the time they were built but really pretty. There is a huge library and a sun room off one of the bedrooms. There is also an indoor swimming pool. If you have any questions while you're walking around, there are staff members in many of the rooms to chat about the art work, the architecture or the history of the rooms and house. This house is really gorgeous and on a large piece of land. There are various trails to walk around the grounds- one of which goes right down and along the water. We chose that walk and it was just lovely. I can imagine the walks being a bit gloomy if the weather is rainy, but we lucked out the day we were here and everything was just gorgeous. There is a bit of land where there are log seats set up around a fire pit, which can be used for a bbq. When we arrived there were loads of people enjoying their lunches around a fire. All along the land as well, they are planting new trees which was really nice to see. I went a bit picture mad and of course the uploaded all out of order, but you can get an idea of what there is to see and the grounds and how lovely they are. If you're going to the Isle of Bute, make it a point to visit here, you surely won't be sorry. We weren't expecting to stay very long but we spent a good 3 hours here wandering about and checking out every inch of the property. Well worth it and a great part of exploring Bute!

Friends had got married here so we headed back for the full tour. The grounds are gorgeous and it helped the weather had started to turn so we were being indulged in Scotland's second week of summer (the first being March). The house itself is impressive with gorgeous tapestries, architecture and design details and is worth a visit. Like Kay L. our guide was a bit 'nippy' - and although passionate about the house, when you are paying to view somewhere like this, you do want to stop and note some of the extra details, not be rushed through like the school trip crocodile. We were lucky with the weather, but, it costs £11 to see the house and the grounds. The tour of the house takes just over an hour but if the weather was lousy, how much loitering of the grounds would you be willing to do in the dreech, miserable Scottish weather and a rushed tour would seem less value for money....

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.