They've found your ancestor's house. 240 generations ago

The first farmers and the first villages in Scotland started probably 6,000 yeas ago. They have just found the remains of some of them, in Oban.

This is how Moira Kerr reported it in the Herald.

"Working on a routine survey of a Scottish hillside archaeologists have uncovered a treasure chest of historic artefacts dating back 6000 years. The find was made during preparatory work for a new housing development in Oban and is the biggest of its kind in mainland Argyll in recent years.


It includes a Stone Age or Neolithic axehead, dating back 5000-6000 years, three prehistoric roundhouses which are up to 3000 years old, and the remains of an 18th-century farmstead and metalwork store."

The little stones pictured lie here to-day on the shore of Kentallen Bay. You can see them from our cottage window. If they are the most recent rocks then they are over 50 million yeas old, the product of numerous volcanos. They are probably considerably older.

Almost certainly, a mesolithic hamlet would have existed here in 4,000bc. The conditions for farming, fresh water and sea fishing were ideal. Temperatures were much warmer, treelines were higher, the lions and elephants had been wiped out, the dog domesticated. Britain was already an island, and chambered cairns were being built - one in Ballachulish. It was savage, but liveable - just. The greatest danger came from other human beings.

They suffered from midgies, too.

John

The story they don't tell you about the Glencoe Massacre
History around the cottage in Appin
Did the Vikings stage a battle in Glencoe?
The Pictish broch in Lismore
West of Scotland millions of years ago
Robert the Bruce and the Ardchattan parliament
Robert the Bruce and the Knights Templar
The story of the MacDonalds of Glencoe
Ancient roads of the Highlands
Glencoe, the 4th Wonder of Scotland
Castles in the Glencoe area

These pictures and this story are a joy. Yes, this is a Scottish holiday

Love the story Helen, and the pics are so good. We like people in our pics because with people there is always a story. All three of them are lovely. Thank you

Hello John and Gillian,

We had an absolutely brilliant holiday. We were so impressed with how well equipped your cottage is, you seem to have thought of everything we could possibly need. Thank you also for all your info on walks and things to see, really helpful.

Right where did we go: The Gondola on the Glen Nevis range, fab views from the top, also the Glencoe mountain ski range, lift up and walked down, Quite a challenging walk to the hidden/lost valley, which we loved, Lighthouse at Ardnamurchan, lovely scenery all the way, Stalker castle cafe, Ferry across to Lismore (should have allowed our selves more time on the island), Cuil Bay, Signal Rock, the lovely walk on Glen Nevis to I think it was Steall falls, had a drive around the beautiful Loch Leven, a visit to Oban, including the sea life centre and the distillery, also drove out to Invermorriston  and enjoyed a picnic by the river, a rather scary drive in the rain along the road that goes nowhere to Loch Etive, Oh, and climbed the ‘small’ hill behind the Duror hall. We were huffing and puffing, a wake up call that we need to get fitter! We enjoyed meals at the Holly Tree and the Clachaig Inn.

It is hard to say what was our favourite thing, we loved it all; but I think we both particularly enjoyed the walk to the hidden valley despite a freezing cold wade through a mountain stream to get there!

The weather was no worse than we expected, the first couple of days were good, one day very soggy and the rest a mixture, will send you pictures of us on the soggy day. We noticed that there doesn’t seem to be any such thing as drizzle in Scotland, just three drops as a warning, then a downpour. Thank heavens for whisky! ( or Real ale for Tim).

Thank you again for everything, we will definitely visit Scotland again, there was so much more we wanted to see.

Best wishes,
Tim and Helen Eustace


Lochside cottage near Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland
Last minute, late availability Glencoe, self catering cottage
20 brilliant walks around our cottage area
Easy hill walks in Glencoe
Why not walk up Ben Nevis one day?
Easier Munroe walks in Glencoe
Skiing Glencoe and Nevis range, cottage is midway between the two
Video. Skiing on Glencoe mountain
Weather in the West of Scotland
Rock and Ice climbing in Glencoe
Cycling and fishing Glencoe
Spectacular wild life around our cottage
Golf in the Highlands, Dragons tooth golf course, Glencoe
Cruising the islands, using Glencoe as a base
Safe, beautiful beaches and bays in Glencoe area
Touring the Highlands by car from Glencoe,
Spring breaks, March April May Glencoe
Winter breaks, Jan Feb March in the cottage
Autumn breaks November December in the cottage
Our new Appin blog site

Jan Hamilton's pictures around Kentallen are lovely

This is a lovely photograph of our group of 4 terraced cottages at Kentallen. Ours is the 2nd from the right, one of the white ones. It was amongst a group of lovely photographs of the area taken by Jan Hamilton of Duror, our nearby little village. Jan took them for the new website for the Duror community and this link to to the Arts and Crafts page is where she is mentioned with her telephone number.

Thank you Jan for permission to reproduce it, we have put a small version of it on our Home page of the website

John
Cottage holidays Scotland in the Autumn, Winter, Spring
B&Bs and hotels in the West of Scotland
The highlands of Scotland
Holiday cottages anywhere
Gorgeous photographs of Glencoe
Beautiful Appin, Scotland
Walks around our cottage area in Glencoe
Hill walks in Glencoe
You can walk up Ben Nevis one day?
Munroes in Glencoe
Port Appin
Barcaldine
Accommodation in the area
Kentallen
Ballachulish
Onich