Argyll is both accessible and remote. It begins at the outer limits of Glasgow, with part of Scotland’s first National Park – Loch Lomond and The Trossachs. It runs out to Ardnamurchan, the most westerly point in the UK. It climbs to the famous peaks of Glencoe in the north. It has 26 inhabited islands, reached by ferries from its own coastline – longer than that that of France and a rich haunt for divers.

Its principal centres are Helensburgh, Dunoon, Campbeltown, Lochgilphead and Oban.

Argyll is the birthplace of the Scottish nation - first established as the Kingdom of Dalriada in 500AD - with Dunadd Fort eventually crowning the first King of a unified country, Kenneth MacAlpine, in 843AD. Dunadd Fort is in Mid-Argyll, in Kilmartin Glen, described as ‘a megalithic paradise as intriguing as the pyramids’.

Argyll is also the birthplace of the Gaelic language in Scotland, through the people who came there from the north of Ireland to found the Kingdom of Dalriada. Its name in Gaelic – Earra Ghaidheal – means ‘the boundary of the Gaels’. The Gaelic language is still native to much of Argyll and a significant cultural focus.

Argyll brought Celtic Christianity to Scotland through St Columba’s establishment on the Isle of Iona in 563 AD. This was supported by the work of lesser-known monks, like St Blane, who founded his church at Kilgarth near Dunagoil on the Isle of Bute in the sixth century. His later monastery became the site of the Cathedral of Dunblane in Stirlingshire.

Argyll was the seat of the Lords of the Isles – at Finlaggan on the Isle of Islay. This was a medieval power-base of intermarrying Norsemen under Somerled, the first Lord of the Isles. The Lordship brought discipline, wealth and stability to the area, controlling the entire western seaboard and islands south to the Isle of Man.