Kilmartin Castle: Scottish decor with a quirky, contemporary twist

Overlooking the wild scenery of Argyll, Laura Jane Clark finds Kilmartin Castle’s stylish renovation as inspiring as the landscape

I’ve always loved staying in wonderful hotels for design inspiration, especially renovated or converted buildings that have been transformed into incredible and interesting accommodation. There’s something very special about finding a hidden gem, from creaking around ancient floorboarded Kentish inns, to listening to records in a converted lighthouse overlooking the sea. There’s a sense of adventure and history that’s hard to replicate.

When a hotel is offering more than just a convenient and budget-friendly place to sleep, it needs to provide an experience. I love everything about that experience, whether it’s each individual room or the hotel as a whole, and I look forward to being transported away from the moment I step into the reception.

When I first saw a picture of the enormous key for the wooden front door of 16th-century Kilmartin Castle, I was totally spellbound. I did my usual stalking of the place, poring over the images and working out which of the five individually designed bedrooms I preferred and, most importantly, which of the amazing baths I would like to have a long, hot soak in. At just two hours outside of my home in Glasgow, I decided a road trip north was needed. Even though I was born in Scotland my accent is anything but, yet I never feel quite so Scottish as when I’m driving up the west coast with the windscreen wipers going full tilt!

Owners Stef and Si are unlike anyone I have met before. Hailing from northeast England and Australia respectively, they bought Kilmartin Castle back in 2018 and embarked on the renovation in early 2019, painstakingly transforming the property into the most incredible, warm and luxurious boutique place to stay. Warm is the key word here. One of the first things they did at the beginning of the renovation was to take up the original stone floor and install underfloor heating – before replacing every slab. As someone who lives in a drafty old house myself and wears long johns under trousers nine months of the year, this is a game-changer. Their attention to detail and eye for design is astonishing.

Whether for a hotel or home, I find it tricky to create unique, contemporary interiors within historic settings without a jarring mismatch of styles. When the walls of the building itself are steeped in history, whether that is ancient stone, Victorian mouldings or mid-century internal glazing, how can you bring your own sense of style to your interiors without straying into pastiche or clashing design? What I love about the atmosphere at Kilmartin Castle is that everywhere you look there are collections of artwork both old and new, flea-market finds, and rugs and throws that frame window seats or little reading nooks. It is whimsical and quirky, but incredibly well-executed without any feeling of pretence or reverence.

If you’re working on a renovation of an old property, you’ll find there are always strange pipes, rogue wires and odd connections popping out of walls and floors, and half the battle is trying to conceal and work with them. False walls are an obvious way to achieve that, but in Kilmartin Castle one of my favourite details is a gutted grandfather clock that forms the cover to surface-mounted pipes that run up the stone walls. The genius thing is, you can open the front of the old clock and access the pipes for maintenance. For me, this is reuse and recycling at its best.

Everything in Kilmartin has a story, either from the castle’s ancient past or the couple’s extensive travelling and life abroad. As is typical with such old, fortified castles, the windows are small and even the gorgeous, framed views out over the mountains and glen beyond don’t dominate the interior, they complement it. Every bedroom has been designed with a very different style, yet with a sense of cohesion by the use of muted, inky tones and a mixture of oversized prints, unique oil paintings and stark contemporary art.

How does it not clash? How does it all combine to form cohesion not cacophony? I think it’s because everything reflects Stef and Si themselves, their sense of humour and also the romance of this castle. There are no tartan carpets or Charles Rennie Mackintosh prints hanging in this Scottish home. One of their mantras is ‘forget fashion, this is style’ – and I’m adopting it.