How is it even possible that we have been visiting Kenmore for eight years straight this same week and yet never have I ever shared a travel guide of any sort? Well, let’s just right that wrong here and now. Kenmore is an almost completely random little village, and when I say village that is perhaps even a grand assumption of its proportions, that we might never have discovered but, as you may very well guess (the clue is in the ‘visiting eight years straight’ bit), we like it a lot.
Sure, there are probably better times of year to visit when the weather might be slightly kinder and more things might be open but a few days away at the start of the year is such a wonderful antidote to those inevitable January blues.
So here are my, admittedly somewhat limited, tips on how to get there, where to stay, what to do, eat and drink because the most important thing is just to get there and then focus on doing a whole lotta not very much…
DRIVE
You really gotta drive for the scenery. Up through the hills and the forests, skirting mountains and arriving to curl round the edge of Loch Tay – it is pretty special. We routed ourselves via Pentland Land Rover, Edinburgh to pick up a new Range Rover for our epic three day test drive. With two dogs and a baby (and all the luggage, aka cr*p, that goes along with that) plus a relatively challenging drive (snow, sleet and ice last week) the Land Rover Velar ticked all the boxes. Aside from the obvious practicalities and its good looks, I would be remiss not to mention the things that set this car a level above for me… three beautifully sleek built-in screens for every conceivable need – I particularly enjoyed selecting the sat nav on my dash (i.e. the one in front of the wheel) leaving the others available for media, climate control, driving modes – all the things your passenger (husband) will invariably be eager to play with whilst you focus on the main event – driving. The speed limit coupled with your own speed can be subtly projected onto the windscreen, a nice feature too, but the icing on the cake for me was the massage. Yeah seriously. You can program this baby to deliver a nice wee massage at fifteen minute intervals if you are so inclined (yuhuh, you bet I was) which is the most lovely little treat on a long drive. Did we also sit in the Velar occasionally just for the massage? Maybe…
Discover more about the Range Rover Velar and book a massage, sorry test drive, here
STAY
There are a number of places to stay in Kenmore and we have always stayed at The Kenmore Club which clings to the very edge of the loch and I believe is in fact built in the walled garden of Taymouth Castle. It has a pool and a restaurant and is a rather pretty spot which you can see a little of in my last post…
DO
Walk. Walk to the castle (pram friendly) or down the river or up to the Black Rock view point or my personal favourite, Kenmore Hill… The views and the colours are incredible and, whilst the weather can be ‘special’, you will pretty much have the place to yourself and you can really, really breathe.
(Let’s just put a note here to say the Hot Box might be worth a look too. I cannot personally recommend it as we have yet to go but it is on our list; it is a huge log fired sauna with a slide right into Loch Tay, it looks freaking awesome, has an alfresco bar and sits right next to The Crannog which is a pretty cool sight if nothing else. If you have tried it please let me know.)
Then walk to the pub. Sit by the log fires in Scotland’s oldest inn, the Kenmore Hotel, and order scones with cream and jam and something short with ice to warm your bones. And relax…
SHOP THE POST
Wow, the scenery is just stunning! (And baby is just gorgeous x)
Author
It was just so stunning up there…. I really do love Scotland!x