Open Country

Kinloch Castle, an Edwardian hunting lodge on the Hebridean Isle of Rum, was built in the 1900s by a Lancashire textile magnate, Sir George Bullough. The estate had its own hydro electric scheme, Japanese gardens and palm house, reputedly stocked with humming birds and an alligator! In Kinloch's grand hall Sir George installed a magnificent orchestrion, an early form of home entertainment centre. One of the largest ever built, it has 264 tuned pipes which can recreate the sounds of flutes, trumpets, clarinets, baritones, trombones and piccolos. Sir George used it to summon his guests to the dining room.Today the orchestrion, like the rest of the castle, is in a sad state of disrepair, boarded up and at the mercy of winter storms. Fiona Mackenzie ,who lives on the neighbouring Island of Canna, finds out more about the castle's history and talks to a group of campaigners who are passionate about restoring it. She meets conservationist, Ali Morris, who spends much of her time on Rum's spectacular hillsides