The first time I visited Islay, I barely left the whisky trail.
I’d come to report on the reopening of Port Ellen, the island’s famous “ghost distillery”, and spent my time touring still houses and warehouses, drawing drams whisky from casks and talking to the experts who made it.
It was all fascinating stuff, but by the time I left the remote island and flew back to Glasgow I’d seen surprisingly little of the place itself.
Returning this spring with my wife Alice and our children, Robin and Nina, we gave the many, many distilleries Islay has to offer the swerve.
Instead, we played 12 holes of golf, cycled across the beach on fat bikes, borrowed the hotel’s Land Rover to explore the island – and discovered that Islay makes a rather good family holiday.
©Maciej Zalewski_Nomadiqa Ltd
Our base was Another Place, The Machrie, on Islay’s south-west coast.
The hotel sits behind seven miles of beach and alongside one of Scotland’s best-known links courses, yet it’s only a few minutes from the island’s tiny airport. Islay still feels agreeably remote, but from stepping off the plane to unpacking in our accomodation probably took less than half an hour.
We’d booked one of the family lodges, with two bedrooms, a sitting room and doors opening directly onto the golf course. It was exactly the sort of setup that works well with children. Robin and Nina could disappear outside while Alice and I sat on the terrace with a coffee, watching golfers make their way up the closing holes.
The weather, unusually for a Scottish island in spring, barely put a foot wrong all week, so we ended up spending as much time outside the lodge as we did in it.
Golf is clearly at the heart of The Machrie, and the championship links attracts players from around the world. What I hadn’t appreciated before arriving was how easily everything else fitted around it. One morning we’d head out for a walk, the next we’d borrow the Land Rover and drive across the island, then return in time for dinner overlooking the 18th green.
The golf gives the hotel its identity, but it never feels as though it’s the only reason to come.
©Maciej Zalewski_Nomadiqa Ltd
Although The Machrie is best known for its championship links, you don’t have to be a serious golfer to enjoy staying here.
We spent one afternoon on The Hebrides, the hotel’s family-friendly social course, where putters and balls are provided and the emphasis is very much on having fun rather than keeping score. Robin and Nina loved it, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Later, after dark, the course is played with glow-in-the-dark balls, a small touch that neatly sums up the hotel’s approach: golf is taken seriously if you want it to be, but it doesn’t have to be.
The hotel also lends guests Land Rovers, and having one for a couple of days meant we saw far more of Islay than we otherwise would have done. We drove over to the Singing Sands, walked out to the American Monument and found ourselves stopping regularly simply because another stretch of coastline looked worth exploring. Never mind the whisky – travelling around now, I was reminded that there is just as much reason to come for its beaches, wildlife and extraordinary sense of space.
Back at The Machrie we borrowed fat bikes and headed down onto the beach. Their oversized tyres are designed for sand, making it easy for all four of us to ride along the shoreline, before returning to the hotel to spend some time in the outdoor hot tubs overlooking the course.
Like much of the hotel, they’re uncomplicated, well thought through and exactly the sort of thing you appreciate after a day spent outside.
©Maciej Zalewski_Nomadiqa Ltd
Dinner each evening was in the hotel’s 18 Restaurant & Bar, where the menu makes the most of local produce, particularly seafood. Loch Gruinart oysters featured during our stay, while one evening I ordered the seafood platter. The waiter looked at it, decided I had no chance of finishing it and bet me a pint that I wouldn’t.
Reader, I won that pint.
Desserts were equally good, particularly a rhubarb and custard with mint sorbet and rhubarb brittle, and a cherry and whisky parfait that acknowledged the island’s best-known export without making it the centre of everything.
©Maciej Zalewski_Nomadiqa Ltd
Breakfasts followed the same logic. Alongside the buffet came a full Scottish with eggs cooked to order, haggis, black pudding, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and potato scones, which set us up well for another day out.
That’s probably what I liked most about staying here. The Machrie is an excellent hotel in its own right, but it never feels cut off from the island around it. We’d spend the day exploring before returning in time for dinner, and by the end of the trip the hotel had become as much a base for seeing Islay as a destination in itself.
Ben Shakespeare Photography
The distilleries remain an obvious draw, and deservedly so, but they’re only one part of the island’s appeal. Returning with the family reminded me there are also empty beaches, excellent walking, wildlife, outstanding seafood and enough outdoor activities to fill several days without ever setting foot inside a warehouse or tasting room.
That’s very much the thinking behind the Another Place brand. Rather than creating destinations from scratch, the group looks for extraordinary settings – Ullswater in the Lake District, the Cornish coast and now Islay – then builds hotels that make it easy to get out and enjoy them.
On Islay, that means returning to a hotel that looks out across the links towards the Atlantic, with the feeling that the best part of the day happened somewhere beyond the terrace.