📌 Achnamara, Argyll & Bute
★★
Castle Sween lies a winding half hour drive along single track roads across the remote region of Knapdale. Few tourists venture this far, but they could be missing out on Scotland’s oldest castle: built around the end of the 12th century, none of its contemporaries can be dated with enough confidence to wrestle away the title. Backed by rugged hills and overlooking Loch Sween atop a rocky prominence, the obvious lack of windows reflects the overriding need for defence at all costs. But when visiting there’s an unwelcome neighbour – a large caravan site occupying the surrounding land. Considering there’s not exactly competition for space around here it’s a bit disappointing, and does detract a bit from the atmosphere. At least a screen of trees partly separates old from new.
🌍 Location
📌 Off minor road 7 mi south of Achnamara
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NR 712788
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.947905,-5.665368
❌ No public transport within 1 mi
🚗 Layby before caravan site entrance at 🧭 NR 717787 / 🛰️ 55.946672,-5.658143 (parking within caravan site is for residents only)
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
💬 From the layby it’s a 10-min walk (each way) to the castle, downhill on the caravan park access road.
