Tayvallich

If you could imagine Tayvallich without all the locally owned moorings, amongst which are some for visitors and enough space to anchor apparently, and particularly without the characterless modern houses outnumbering the older much more charming cottages, then it would be a lovely place to visit, the setting is magical. 'Pevsner' puts it well, "A ring of indifferent holiday cottages now outnumbering the few surviving old rubble cottages. From the north caravans advance ominously". Even the late 19th century church reflects the take over by the new at the expense of the old - I hope there was a good reason to replace half the wooden pews with horrible modern chairs. Yes there are pontoons, but only a couple for an overnight stay - but then if you just drop in for coffee and some shopping for less than a couple of hours they let you off free. There is a small but useful shop which can come in handy for fresh milk, along with the post office and a very nice coffee shop with a deck overlooking the bay. Certainly there is a strong sense of community here with a sailing club, camera club and art classes. But I am not sure Tayvallich is really worth a detour. Of course, the anchorage is totally sheltered and easy to get into but somehow this is not enough, particularly when Loch Sween has such a delightful alternative round the corner - the Fairy Islands. The redeeming feature used to be and should still be the Tayvallich Inn, although since it changed hands in late 2009 I am not so sure - we will see (ph 01546 870282). It is really hard to keep up with these small restaurants because they change hands so quickly, and it is difficult to get chefs and then get them to stay. By the way, if you want to impress, the pronunciation of Tayvallich has an additional syllable - tay-vee-allich - after the original Gaelic Tigh a'bhealaich - house of the pass (between the Sound of Jura and Loch Sween over which the drovers used to bring their cattle to market).