My New Favorite Manor House In Scotland

One of the most stunning places we explored on our holiday in Scotland was Mount Stuart. We hadn't anticipated it being the highlight of our visit to Isle of Bute, but rather just one stop in a number of planned explorations on that island--we almost didn't even bring our camera along to this manor house and I was not dressed as elegantly for the occasion as I would have been had I known what the day held for us. Mount Stuart completely blew us away from the moment we crossed the threshold to gape at the vaulted ceiling painted with accurate star maps and lined with stain-glassed windows which cast rainbow reflections all over the columns and arched hallways. As we ventured up the grand staircase and into the various rooms we became more and more impressed with the amazing attention to detail throughout. Set on the east coast of the Isle of Bute it is a Gothic Revival House and ancestral home of the Marquesses of Bute. Almost immediately on entry you are ushered into the colonnaded Marble Hall, which on our sunlit day was filled with dancing rainbows and winking crystals. It's an entrance to stop you in your tracks and thankfully, you are allowed to do just that if you wish. Rather than a tour that leads you from room to room, guides are posted throughout the house to answer questions and you can wander or linger at your leisure. I do prefer this style of "tour" since you can still learn a lot about each room (like how as detailed and magnificent as the Marble Hall is, some of the columns are unfinished as workers were brought away from that task to focus on the Chapel), but you don't get pushed into a new room when there's still more details you want to absorb where you are. We did a lot of lingering at Mount Stuart, staring at the ceilings and marveling over the amount of detail in every room.