Slightly tricky entrance to this one, and not good if there is any swell or the wind is in the north. But it is the most convenient anchorage for a visit to Glengorm Castle. If you can be bothered, and you should, there is a really nice 45-minute walk up to the castle. Land on the northeast shore and walk northeast for a few minutes until you hit the head of Laorin Bay with its small stone pier. A Land Rover track heads from here up the hill. It will take you all the way to the castle via, on the left, three standing stones which generations of landowners have kindly left alone for us to admire and ponder their purpose (two have been re-erected apparently). And if you want another little detour, have a wander up to An Sean Dun which is on the hill just south of the wood through which the track goes, and for a dun there is quite a bit of it left.
There is also a bathing pool which is sluiced and filled by the sea. This may have once been some sort of harbour, with nousts and a pier. It is just southwest of the ruined, possibly medieval fort built over an earlier Iron Age fort — Dun Ara. Maybe get to it along the coast from Laorin Bay, as well as more obviously along a track from the castle.
The castle is a marvellous 1860 pile, high up overlooking the northwest entrance to the Sound of Mull, clearly visible from the sea as a kind of exotic fairy tale sort of a place. But close up it is rather dull and stark, at least for my taste. However, the views from the rooms overlooking the Sound must be fantastic, and it does have a fabulous and huge walled market garden, supplemented with lots of polytunnels — wonderful.
The house and the estate have been owned by the Nelson family since 1970. They successfully run it as a farm, farm shop (local venison, Mull cheddar, Tobermory trout etc), an excellent café for lunch and tea, an art gallery, self catering, B&B, and a wedding venue. Rather impressive. And, better still, in 2018 they started planting 70 000 native trees. The whole place has a really good feel to it, I imagine because the owners actually live on the estate all the year round. So if you want to get married there, or maybe stay in one of their upmarket rooms, have a look at their really excellent website and click on. Or you can buy the whole lot for £9 million because it was put up for sale in 2026. Of course one worries that some foreign billionaire will buy it and close down all public access. One can but hope not.
