I am gazing across the Irish Sea from a clifftop lighthouse, seagulls wheeling on the warm Atlantic winds, when it hits me. Even if I hadn’t just spent the past 18 months staring at the same four walls of my Glasgow flat, this would still be one of the best hotel views I have seen.
I have come to Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel, an iconic 1817 Robert Stevenson landmark that clings to the cliffs atop the Rhins of Galloway, about 20 minutes northwest of Stranraer. Arrive, as I did, on a blazing summer afternoon and the lighthouse will appear at the end of the road as a sole silhouette inked across the cloudless cornflower sky, with ferries dotted along the horizon below.
The lighthouse was bought by Helen Mason and John Harris in December 2020. Their pre-pandemic plans, like so many others, were derailed and the hotel was open for only a week before shutting for the entire winter. It reopened when restrictions eased in April.
Accommodation is in both the old lighthouse keeper’s residence and converted outbuildings, which are separate dog-friendly suites with uninterrupted sea views.
The exterior and interior fizz with potential but the furniture, decor and outside paint could use some modernisation, which the owners say is in the works. Six-footers beware: the diminutive proportions of our bathroom meant my friend and I were glad that of the two of us, the taller is only 5ft 3in.
Advertisement
The views, however, more than make up for flaking paintwork and tight bathroom squeezes. Less than 100 yards from the sea, the hotel looks down over rock pools that sometimes draw otters and their young, and waves where seals and porpoises are frequently seen.
The food isn’t bad either, with a five-course dinner menu showcasing the abundance of Galloway’s larder. We settled into our quaint room furnished with tartan blankets and stag motif cushions, sampled our complimentary boiled sweets, contorted ourselves into variously unflattering pretzel poses to use the bathroom, then made a beeline for the restaurant.
Comforting and hearty, my dinner included excellent smoked salmon crêpes and pea and mint soup, a slab of Scotch prime beef with a red wine sauce, and a chocolate, peppermint and espresso tart.
While Covid has been a stumbling block, the new owners have plenty of plans. John, a keen photographer and former gallery owner whose photos adorn the hotel walls, plans to lead photography tours; Helen hopes to host weddings and events.
Among other grand ideas, John and Helen will soon offer tours of the lighthouse itself — we were taken for a preview of what visitors can expect. It’s a long and slightly dizzying way up, but it’s a fascinating insight into the history of Scotland’s lighthouses and the views from the top seem never-ending. Don’t bother wearing a hat up there: the wiry fingers of the coastal winds are poised to pinch any unfixed item and flick it into the distant horizon.
Advertisement
As for what to do when not reading To the Lighthouse or Treasure Island, or strolling to the Iron Age fort within the 20-acre grounds, well, Logan Botanic Garden would be my tip. Forty-five minutes’ drive from the lighthouse, the garden is one of three regional outposts of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, it is home to a 10ft-high rhubarb tunnel and is peppered with incongruous palm trees, pelargoniums and gunneras, which tower over the footpaths like fairytale canopies, ready to swallow you up whole.
Heading back from the garden in the late afternoon, we reached the lighthouse just as the sun was bleeding into the sea, washing over the waves in a watercolour of burnt oranges, deep reds and finally a shimmering purple. As we looked out from the cliffs it felt as though we were clinging to a rock in the violent violet ocean, the lighthouse keeping us safe at the edge of the world.
After navigating stormy waters, Corsewall Lighthouse hotel is on course to become a gorgeously romantic seaside idyll. While others will come to flex their wildlife photography skills, swap clifftop vows or enjoy a hearty meal before setting off on the Stranraer ferry, I’ll be back for one more look at that sunset. It might feel as though it’s clinging to the very end of the world, but for this wild windblown clifftop sanctuary the journey is just beginning.
Where the writer stayed
Gillian Furmage was a guest of Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel (lighthousehotel.co.uk), where B&B doubles cost from £140, or from £180 including a five-course dinner.
