DESCRIBED as one of the Inner Hebrides’s best-kept secrets, Luing offers spectacular views of the west coast, combined with a serene peacefulness. Home to just 200 residents, the tiny island has flown under the radar of most people’s “must-see” Scottish destinations – and boy are they missing out.
My partner and I made the short ferry trip, literally just two minutes, across from the Isle of Seil, which is around seven miles southwest of Oban, to Luing.
We had been invited to attend a decadent weekend of feasting, drinking and exploring the gorgeous island by WildLuing, which owns eight glamorous self-catering camping pods.
Located just minutes away from the harbour where the ferry docks, the stylish and spacious camping pods offer stunning views of the surrounding Slate islands.
In between the eight pods, there is a communal space where the WildLuing team hosts their events called the Observatory. It has a beautiful open-plan living space with a big dining table, plenty of chairs and sofas, with a cosy ambiance and a huge glass window overlooking the island’s gorgeous coastal views.
The plan for the weekend was to explore two of the island's villages, Cullipool and Toberonochy. Then there was whisky sampling with Amy Stammers from Nc’nean Distillery followed by an evening feast hosted by the wonder folk from Ballintaggart - who also led a cooking class on the Sunday.
Luing is an incredibly charming island. Surrounded by incredible views and is perfect to explore on foot or by bike.
It has a distinctive topography where the vibrant blues of the surrounding ocean and the lush greens of its rolling hills pop against the dark black and greys of the abundance of slate stone on the island.
Some of the highlights of exploring the island included meeting the dozens of beautiful reddish-brown cows who roam freely around Luing, discovering some Viking “graffiti” on an old, abandoned kirk, and chatting with some of the lovely locals.
Before we knew it had already rolled around to the drinks part of what I am going to call the ultimate “foodie weekend”, as Amy from Nc'nean Distillery took a small group of us through an enlightening whisky-tasting afternoon.
Nc'nean Distillery is located on the west coast peninsula of Morvern, which overlooks the Sound of Mull and has a staggering history for only being founded in 2013.
Amy, who is head of sustainability, explained how the company is pioneering Scotland’s whisky industry by using organic ingredients and being as eco-friendly as possible while we all sipped on drams and cocktails.
Nc'nean has really knocked it out of the park. I personally prefer a smoother blend, I’m not a huge fan of overly smoky or peaty taste, and the single malt was pretty much spot on for what I enjoy.
It was silky and slightly sweet tasting. Sitting on a big couch overlooking Torsa, I could have sat and sipped away at a dram of it all evening. Bliss.
Another favourite of mine was Amy’s very own Tiny Rebels. The whisky is casked in barrels from a French vineyard which helped give it a rich and almost fruity taste.
Along with the whisky, there was also a botanical spirit which I can only assume is an aspiring mixologist’s dream. It’s not quite a gin, but it shares a similar fruity and floral taste, and I had a few different types of cocktails with the botanical spirit which went down as an absolute treat.
We sat for around an hour while Amy told us all about our drinks and the distillery until we were summoned to the dining table by the smell of the most incredible fresh seafood.
The food part of the weekend was hosted by Ballintaggart, which is a family-run business with a farm, restaurant, hotel, and shops across Perthshire.
The team, led by part business owner Chris Rowley (below), created a phenomenal evening feast, and I cannot stress how much the word phenomenal only just does justice to what the Ballintaggart team created.
As each dish was served Chris took a few minutes to describe what we were about to savour, with lovely little explanations of where they sourced the local produce from and why they chose them.
Some of the highlights of the feast included langoustine tacos and oysters freshly caught from Luing that morning.
There was also venison salami which went beautifully with sourdough baked freshly by Chris and his team, along with some creamy whipped butter.
The real showstopper of the meal was the Luing beef which was so succulent and just melted in your mouth.
Throughout the night I got to sit and chat with some of the island locals, and Jack who owns WildLuing with his wife Emily.
He told lovely stories about growing up on the island and his family's proud history of rearing cattle on Luing.
The full evening had such a cosy and intimate feeling to it as strangers became friends over an incredible evening of food and drink.
The following day Chris, along with his fabulous team of Fiona and Damian, put us through our paces with a cooking class using produce mainly from the island.
After the meal on Saturday evening, I didn’t think it could get better, and I was wrong.
I have never attended a cooking class before and what an introduction to the culinary school world.
It was very casual but wonderfully informative and the part I loved the most was how transferable the skills I learned are to my own everyday cooking.
Chris was incredibly patient and a great teacher.
Some of the cooking skills we learned were how to debone and fillet some mackerel along with shucking oysters and creating our own white wine sauce.
A real highlight of the class was shucking a hand-dived oyster, which was huge, and then cooked sealed with puff pastry with a creamy wine sauce inside.
When we cracked them open at the end, they were a real showstopper, and the smell alone was simply divine.
Getting to cook our own “feast” really was the perfect way to end a phenomenal weekend full of food and drink.
The team at WildLuing has really managed to create something special and if they continue organising weekend retreats at the same calibre, Luing will no longer be the Inner Hebrides’ best-kept secret.
