(Balcony Viewpoint)

Kilcreggan grew up as a seafront retreat for prosperous Glasgow business families in the mid-nineteenth century, whose properties – ranging from cottages to baronial castles – still run for miles along the Clyde coast. The village is little changed since Victorian times, which has ensured its popularity with visitors. Built on land purchased from the Duke of Argyll in 1851 (his own palatial residence, Rosneath Castle - now long gone – stood some three miles away to the east), the Villa Marina – the House of the Sea – was designed by the celebrated Glasgow architect, John Honeyman.  His buildings form a major part of the pre-1914 landscape of the west of Scotland, and incidentally, it was he who gave Charles Rennie Mackintosh of art nouveau fame, his first job – as a junior draughtsman. Famed for yachting, as it still is, this area attracted Honeyman, who was keen on the sport, and he built his own country home, Belmore House, a few miles away, overlooking the Gareloch.