Kilberry Inn and Castle Toward in key selections

Two Argyll businesses were in the news yesterday (26th June 2010) for very different reasons.

The Kilberry Inn was placed sixth UK-wide in The Independent newspaper’s adjudicated list of the top 50 country pubs – and earned its place for its food. This supports the awards the restaurant and inn gained in 2009, the Michelin Gourmand and Rural Restaurant of the Year. It’s location on the timelessly tranquil Kilberry peninsula in Knapdale doesn’t do it any harm either.

Then, in a continuing worry for the community of South Cowal, now exploring setting up a community company to take the Castle Toward estate into community ownership, the castle featured large in a double page spread in the Scottish Daily Mail on castles for sale. This energetic promotion of the availability of the property in the open market can only maintain the awareness of the community that time is short.

Castle Toward’s vendor is Argyll and Bute Council, disposing of the property which it inherited through local government reorganisation and had run as an outdoor education centre through a contract with Actual Reality Ltd, which also runs an outdoor education facility at Ardentinny on Loch Long.

Actual Reality and South Cowal Community Council are working together to build the case for a comunity buy out of the property.