Chapter VII.
Poolewe to Aultbea.
Leaving Poolewe we follow the county road over Poolewe bridge, behind Pool House, and along the shore of the bay that forms the head of Loch Ewe. Notice the picturesque pool in which the River Ewe joins Loch Ewe, so much finer than the usual muddy estuary of an east coast river.
After passing on the right the Londubh or Inverewe burial-ground and the home of James Mackenzie at Kirkton (referred to in the last chapter), we cross a small burn. This forms the march or boundary between the estates of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, and his half-brother Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie of Inverewe. Since the parish of Gairloch was entered at Luibmhor, near the west end of Loch Rosque, we have been on the territory of Sir Kenneth Mackenzie.
On the right is Srondubh, with a few trees, and by it the farm buildings of the home farm in connection with Inverewe House. The road skirts along well cultivated arable land until the Inverewe plantations are reached.
Inverewe House was erected by Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie in 1865. It is beautifully situated in a northern recess of the bay at the head of Loch Ewe, in the shelter of a rocky headland called Ploc-ard. The house has a Highland character; it faces due south, and commands a fine view of Beinn Aridh Charr. To the south the summits of the distant Gairloch mountains and the rocky ranges of Craig Tollie and Cliff Hill, with the mouth of the River Ewe and the bay at the head, of Loch Ewe in the foreground, form an enchanting picture. From the village of Poolewe the house—surrounded as it is with planted woods now well grown—is a pleasing object. There are walks in these woods, and separate sea-bathing places for ladies and gentlemen. There is the best anchorage for yachts of the largest size close to the house.
The Inverewe gardens are wonderfully attractive, yielding as they do exquisite flowers nearly all the year round. The following remarks about these gardens are from one of a series of letters from the Highlands which appeared in the Times in the autumn of 1883:—
"Thanks to genial winters, from the softening influence of the Gulf Stream, ornamental gardening richly repays one in those sheltered situations that slope to the sea-arms. The most enchanting spot in that way which I have seen is the garden of Inverewe, on Loch Ewe, rented at present by Lord Fitzwilliam. The garden was laid out by the proprietor, Mr Osgood Mackenzie, whose taste must be as unimpeachable as his knowledge of flowers. The gardens form a terraced amphitheatre, shelving gently towards the Loch, and backed up by the hanging woods, which have only been recently planted. Fruit-trees, but a very few years old, are already loaded with plums, pears, &c. The low stone walls that front the earth-banks are covered with many of the rarer creepers, some of them almost semi-tropical, with luxuriant myrtles just bursting into flower, and with clusters of roses of wonderful size. But what is most remarkable is the marvellous vividness of the colours in such brightly tinted flowers as crimson roses and scarlet gladioli. The warm damp seems to give a brilliancy to the tints which I have never seen either in England or in southern Europe."
The highroad now takes an easterly course, and, passing young plantations, soon comes in sight of Loch-nan-Dailthean. Here is Tournaig, the residence of the Dowager Lady Mackenzie of Gairloch, with its beautiful little garden, described in the Times letter just quoted, as follows:—
"Even more noteworthy, perhaps, is the less pretentious garden at Mr Mackenzie's pretty cottage of Tournaig, situate two miles inland. There, a mere pit in the heather, which must have originally resembled a stone quarry, has been turned, chiefly by blasting, into a little fairyland of leafy luxuriance and gorgeous colouring, though where the plants find soil to strike their roots is a puzzle. As for the cabbages, in their swelling proportions they are rather like balloons than ordinary vegetables. And it must be a piquant experience to stroll of a morning among flower-beds that recall the beauties of Bellagio or the Isola Bella, and afterwards to go out ptarmigan shooting or deer-stalking on some of the most storm-beaten hills in the whole breadth of the Highlands."