Cairndow - Izeria

Cairndow (Scottish Gaelic: An Càrn Dubh) is a coastal hamlet in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The town lies between the A83 road and the head of Loch Fyne. Cairndow's school closed in 1988 after the roll fell to just 3 pupils. Now children in the area are sent to the primary school in Strachur and the secondary school in Dunoon. Medical facilities for the hamlet are provided by the GP in Strachur. Kilmorich Church at Cairndow was built in 1818 and is a category A listed building. After originating as an oyster farm in the loch, Loch Fyne Oysters opened its Loch Fyne Oyster Bar in 1988 at Clachan, across the head of the loch from Cairndow. The company has expanded into a restaurant chain, and the Oyster Bar continues to be a tourist attraction at Clachan, Cairndow.

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Ardkinglas

Ardkinglas House is a Category A listed country house on the Ardkinglas Estate in Argyll, Scotland. The estate lies on the eastern shore of Loch Fyne, and the house is located close to the village of Cairndow. Dating back to the 14th century and originally a Campbell property, the estate now covers more than 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) of rolling hills and landscaped parkland. The centre of the estate was Ardkinglas Castle until this was replaced by a new house in the 18th century. This house was itself replaced by the present Ardkinglas House in the early 20th century, designed by Sir Robert Lorimer for Sir Andrew Noble. It remains the property of the Noble family, and is open to the public on a limited basis. The woodland gardens are open all year round.

Loch Fyne Oysters

Loch Fyne Oysters is a seafood and meat company that operates on the banks of Loch Fyne, Scotland. The company created the Loch Fyne Restaurants chain, which was later sold to Greene King. Loch Fyne Oysters still owns the Loch Fyne brand and supplies its products to the restaurant chain.

Shira Hydro-Electric Scheme

The Shira Hydro-Electric Scheme is a project initiated by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board to use the waters of the River Shira, the River Fyne and other small streams to generate hydroelectricity. It is located between Loch Fyne and Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland. It consists of three power stations and three impounding dams. The remoteness of the area in which the scheme was built required 15 miles (24 km) of access roads to be built before the main works could begin. The three dams were all of different types; a round headed buttress dam; a concrete gravity and earth fill dam; and the first ever use of a prestressed gravity dam. The construction of the earth fill dam was hindered by four months of extremely wet weather. Clachan was the first large underground power station that the Board built, while Sron Mor was the first implementation of a pumped storage scheme, built in anticipation of the arrival of nuclear power generation. The power stations were commissioned in 1953, 1955 and 1957, in advance of the completion of work on the dams.

The Tinkers' Heart

The Tinkers' Heart is a Scottish Travellers' commemorative monument near the village of Cairndow by Loch Fyne in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is also known as the Gypsy's Heart, Gypsies' Heart or Gypsy's Wedding Heart. It is scheduled as a Monument of National Importance. A field visit in 2012 shows the Heart as being made up of a heart-shape of 25 visible quartz pebbles, with a 26th pebble in the centre, and measuring 1.75 metres (5.7 ft) by 1.4 metres (4.6 ft). Research done by Historic Scotland in 2015 concluded that from the evidence available, it was the only example in Scotland of a permanent physical Scottish Travellers' memorial.