Paul and Linda McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre

So sang Paul McCartney in his love letter to Scotland, Mull of Kintyre, a name stamped firmly into pop culture by the 1977 Wings song. It was on this peninsula, on the west coast of Scotland, that Linda and Paul McCartney retreated in the ’70s with their four children, Stella, Mary, Heather and James. Linda oversaw the renovation of the 600-acre High Park Farm – buried deep among the burns, lochs and conifers on their estate overlooking Machrihanish Bay – and converted Low Ranachan Cottage, near Campbeltown, into a photographic studio. For an intimate account of their life in Mull, Taschen’s Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs is a must-read, which also features this decisive family portrait Paul, Stella and James (1982) that highlights Mull’s influence on Linda’s creative output. Today, the savage beauty of the peninsula, which provoked such powerful artistic responses from the couple, persists; as does Linda’s likeness in the form of a bronze statue in her memorial garden in Campbeltown. Kintyre House, which sleeps 20 and is only a 20-minute drive from the Mull, is available to rent from Avenue.