This walk doesn’t actually go to Kean’s Cottage but just as far as the entrance gates, where you can come face to face with the busts of Shakespeare, Garrick and, yes, Edmund Kean, an early 19th century Shakespearean actor who built the house (then called Woodend) as a rural retreat. It’s a fairly level walk of just over a mile each way, with a good range of spring flowers on display.
The start point is on the Loch Fad road – GR NS078637. You can walk there from town either by using the Lovers Walk footpath (see Walk 04) or, slightly more directly, by taking the B878 and turning left at Barone Cottage. The nearest car parking is the forestry loading area, a short distance further on from the start of the walk (see Walk 14).
At this time of year in many parts of the country, the roadsides are bedecked with Cow Parsley, an elegant plant with large white flowerheads and fresh green leaves. On Bute however, it is not so dominant, though its range would seem to be increasing. It is present on both sides of the road on this first stretch, though not always as luxuriant as the specimen depicted. A little further along in the ditch on the right, another umbellifer, Hemlock Water-dropwort, is just coming into flower.
This stretch of the road also features in abundance Russian Comfrey. Its purple flowers readily distinguish it from Tuberous Comfrey, a yellow-flowered species that is much more widespread on the island, and expanding. Both are members of the Borage family.
Prior to passing the forestry loading area, almost all the buttercups you will have seen are Creeping Buttercup, a plant which, as the name implies, readily spreads along the roadside (and elsewhere, including gardens!) by means of its rooting runners. But now, on entering the wooded section of the road, it is possible to make a comparison with its non-creeping relative, the Meadow Buttercup. The flowers of Creeping Buttercup are a slightly deeper, almost waxy, yellow but such difference is not always easy to see. Often it is better to look at the leaves; Meadow Buttercup tends to have much more deeply-toothed, spikier leaves whereas the Creeping Buttercup leaves are slightly rounder, often with whitish, central blotches. Another difference is that the latter alone has furrowed flower-stalks.
Further on, the road splits three ways: to the left it leads down to the Loch Fad (see Walk 08); to the right it climbs up to the Dhu Loch waterworks (see Walk 14); but keep straight on for the gates of Kean’s Cottage.
This final stretch probably has the greatest species diversity and is my favourite (I should also add that at this time of year throughout the walk you will regularly hear the cuckoo calling in the distance on Barone Hill). The Bluebells are now beginning to go over but still provide a delightful contrast to the Red Campion; soon the rapidly-growing Bracken will cover them all.
The road is no longer tar-sealed and its central area and shoulders support a distinct range of species such as Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Lesser Yellow-trefoil and Colt’s-foot, the flowers of the last-mentioned now turned almost entirely to seed.
Look carefully among the rapidly growing vegetation on the edge of the road so as not to miss a good selection of spring flowers. Here is the appropriately-named Cuckooflower (also known as Lady’s-smock); here also are Germander Speedwell, Tormentil, Bugle, Bush Vetch and the elegant Water Avens with its bell-shaped, nodding heads.
All too soon you reach the theatrical gates and it is time to return. Back at the three-way junction, you can make the walk circular, if you wish, by returning to Rothesay across the Loch Fad causeway (see Walk 08) or by turning left and completing Walk 14 in reverse.
Species in flower include:
