Our History

The beginnings of Loch Melfort Hotel as Arduaine Estate

The history of the Hotel is intertwined with that of the National Trust for Scotland’s Arduaine Garden next door. Arduaine House was built in the late 19th Century and first became a hotel in 1967 when the Campbell family sold the house and grounds to Colin and Jane Tindal.

Arduaine House becomes Loch Melfort Hotel

Following a major renovation, including a new wing, Colin and Jane Tindal officially reopened Arduaine House as Loch Melfort Hotel in 1967. At the time, it was described as Loch Melfort Motor Inn. Motor inns were a fashionable American-style concept, and every room in the new 20-room Cedar Wing (now our Sea-View Lodges) offered ensuite facilities, a feature quite ahead of its time. While we have moved on significantly from this original 70’s set-up, Loch Melfort Hotel is still a regular overnight stop for many classic car clubs.

By1976, the Tindals had added The Chart Room (today’s Shuna Room, our cafe and gift shop) to accommodate new visitors, the many yachts that began to frequent the hotel’s moorings. Further developments were made in 1984, with an extension to the hotel restaurant to increase capacity as its popularity grew. The couple owned Loch Melfort Hotel for 25 years, followed by a further two private owners between 1992 and 2008.

2008 – Who owns Loch Melfort Hotel today? Current Owners Calum and Rachel Ross

Calum and Rachel purchased Loch Melfort Hotel in 2008. With 18-month-old baby, Hugh and no on-site accommodation, the family set about converting the abandoned offices and storerooms in the west wing of the main house into an apartment. This is where they lived for 8 years whilst they developed the business. As they worked to turn the building into a home-away-from-home for guests, the hotel became populated with personal pieces from their own story: furniture from their time in Brazil and from their Milngavie home, as well as many other items that told tales of their life journey towards Loch Melfort.

The Grand Opening

March 2009 marked the date for Calum and Rachel’s grand re-opening of Loch Melfort Hotel. They welcomed guests to a fully refurbished main house, complete with 25 bedrooms and a home-led theme, complimented by wonderful patterns and fabrics sourced by Rachel.

That same year also saw the creation of our children’s play area, with individual swings for both infants and older children, an adventurous cargo rope and climbing board, and a range of slides, climbing frames and play huts. This has been developed and upgraded over the years.

2009 was also the year the hotel welcomed 2 very important new arrivals – Campbell and McDonald, 2 of the 3 Highland cows that Loch Melfort has become so very well-known for. Dougal, our third coo, arrived a year later from the same breeders. You can read all about the cows in our Animal blog.

Dougal at Loch Melfort

Improved Water Source

In 2010 Calum and Rachel turned their sights to their next big task: the hotel’s water source. The previous system had been in place from the time the original house had first been built and they set to work upgrading all the waterworks from the hill: new tanks, a new dam, and a new filtering and UV system. The hotel now proudly sources all its water from a local spring in the hills above the hotel to provide fresh spring water direct to each room. Learn more about Loch Melfort hotel’s environmental changes.

Welcome Alex!

November 2011 marked another very special year for the Ross family; youngest son Alex was born in Oban and became the newest member of the Loch Melfort Hotel team.

A New Home

In 2016, Calum and Rachel started building their new family home on the grounds of the hotel, which they moved into at the beginning of the following year. This allowed them to add 5 more bedrooms to the main house in the space that they had vacated.

Gaining 4-Star Rating by Visit Scotland

2017 was a special year for Loch Melfort Hotel. After years of labour and love, the addition of the extra rooms and the re-cladding of the accommodation wing, it was awarded a 4-star rating by Visit Scotland, highlighting “excellent service” and an attentive, more personalised guest experience. This was delivered by a team that had developed away from short-term seasonal workers, growing to accommodate more local, long-term talent (you’ll even find baby Hugh, now a lot older, working in the restaurant sometimes!).

2021 Hotel Improvements

During and after Covid, the hotel underwent many improvements. The restaurant and lounge were reconfigured and opened up to increase dining capacity and more coveted ‘window tables’. The deck area outside was extended to stretch from the restaurant all the way to the end of the new gift shop, providing guests with far more space to relax outdoors and enjoy the view. Around the same time, the Loch Melfort Plant Centre was expanded (alongside the Highland gift shop), creating a more developed retail and garden area for guests to enjoy.

Accessibility across the grounds was also improved. Surfaced paths were laid from the children’s playground to the boathouse to improve mobility access, making it easier for guests to move around the estate. A ramp was added to the extended decking of our disabled access room, Room 23, providing improved step free access right onto the garden.

All 10 of Loch Melfort Hotel’s ground floor Sea View Lodge Rooms had a terrace upgrade. Each room now has its own partitioned decking area, providing guests with double the outdoor space and increased privacy.

A large balcony area (6x3m) was added to the Master Suite. Room 9 (a Sea View Main House Room) is now a Main House Balcony room – it had its standard window replaced with a new patio-door that leads to a new 4x3m balcony area.

Biomass Boiler Installed

It was all hands on deck in February 2021 as work on a new biomass boiler began and hot water tanks and new radiators were installed. The boiler saw 18 tonnes of wood pellets delivered to the hotel in preparation and the hotel now benefits from monthly eco-reports so that the team can feed information around the hotels environmental impact and carbon savings back to guests.

Kitchen Garden

As part of the hotel’s green commitment, it was decided to make better use of the old hen enclosure and so began work on a new veggie plot. The result? A brand-new Kitchen Garden that has already been used to seasonally enhance specials and vegetarian dishes on the menu.

Staff Accommodation Pods

In 2023, purpose-built staff accommodation pods were added within the hotel grounds beside the Sea View Lodges. Set close to the shoreline, they offer staff the same island and sea views as many guest rooms, while providing modern, private on-site living.