Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds

05/06/2026

😻 Happy Friday! Here's a heart-warming wee tale to end the week! A friendly tabby settled in at Dunollie about 5 weeks ago. Everyone assumed he was a local pet who fancied our company. Then our cleaner started seeing him at 5am, and we caught him in the grounds after 7pm, and the penny dropped. A post in Information Oban got plenty of attention but no leads. Eventually Emma took him to the vet, who scanned a microchip and discovered he'd been missing for two years. His name is Laurel, and his family - who live fairly locally - picked him up the same day, overjoyed. We think he may have hopped into a campervan or someone's car and ended up here. We'll miss him, but it's lovely to know he's home.

04/06/2026

This Volunteers' Week, we would like to say a huge thank you to the incredible volunteers who help make Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds such a special place. The photographs below showcase just some of the many individuals and groups who generously give their time, skills, and enthusiasm to support our charity.

From our gardening volunteers, New Routes wellbeing group, and local high school volunteers who help care for our grounds, to our Threads & Yarns and Stitch & Spin groups who keep traditional skills alive and create beautiful handmade items, their contributions are invaluable.

Our shop volunteers, museum stewards, and volunteer guides provide a warm welcome to visitors from near and far, helping to share the story of Dunollie and Clan MacDougall.

Behind the scenes, our archive volunteers have spent over 15 years cataloguing the internationally significant MacDougall archive, while our collections volunteers continue the important work of documenting and preserving our textile and social history collections.

We are also grateful to our event volunteers, whose support helps bring our seasonal programme to life throughout the year.

Whether welcoming visitors, preserving collections, maintaining the grounds, sharing traditional skills, or supporting events, our volunteers play a vital role in everything we do. As a charity, we simply could not do it without them.

Thank you all for your dedication, enthusiasm, and generosity.

If you would like to join them, you can find out more here - https://dunollie.org/get-involved/

03/06/2026

It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying our pop-up Cobalt Blue exhibition at the weekend. Thank you for coming! If you missed it, you can find out more about it here, and watch a lovely wee film about the project made by Beth Chalmers.

Cobalt Blue is a collaborative pop-up exhibition, part of the Sophy and White: The Dunollie Collections Unboxed project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund project, featuring original work by Oban High School pupils together with objects and costume items from the collection of Dunollie. Th...

02/06/2026

We're thoroughly enjoying this whole new angle on our giant redwood. From the air you really start to grasp its true scale!🌲

Sequoiadendron giganteum is native to California. Plant hunters first recorded the species in 1833, and seeds reached Britain twenty years later in 1853, when it quickly became the tree of choice for grand estates and gardens across the country.

Ours is thought to have been planted in the 1860s, possibly by the 25th Chief, Sir John (Vice Admiral), in 1865. Its girth measures 640 centimetres, which sounds enormous, and is, but in redwood terms this one is still a youngster. Giant redwoods can live for more than 3,000 years.

Sadly, the species is now classed as endangered, with fewer than 80,000 left in the wild. It's a real privilege to have one quietly growing in the grounds at Dunollie!

31/05/2026

Last week's object was a stationery spike! Well done if you got it. What's this?

31/05/2026

If you are in Oban today, our Cobalt Blue exhibition is open at The Rockfield Centre! 10-4pm

29/05/2026

🎉 We're so excited for this weekend! On Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 May, our Cobalt Blue pop-up exhibition opens at the Silver Birch Gallery in the Rockfield Centre. 10am to 4pm both days, free to visit, and well worth an hour of your weekend.

Here's what's waiting for you:

✨ Two dresses, side by side. The original belonged to Jean Hadfield, mother of our 31st Clan Chief, Madame Morag MacDougall Morley. The recreation was hand sewn this year by our Education and Learning Officer, Flora, and students from Oban High School, using materials donated by members of the public. If you gave fabric earlier in the year, come and see where it ended up.

✨ Cobalt Blue itself - the closing theme of our National Lottery Heritage Fund project, Sophy and White. Objects from our collection telling the story of the cobalt blue mining industry.

✨ A film made by Beth Chalmers, shown alongside the collection objects.
It's a proper community effort from start to finish, and a lovely way to mark the end of the project. Bring the family, bring a pal, bring anyone who donated fabric and wants to see the result.

📍 Silver Birch Gallery, the Rockfield Centre
📅 Sat 30 & Sun 31 May, 10am-4pm
Free entry. See you there.

28/05/2026

We're so grateful to our New Routes group who make sure the paths around the grounds are well maintained. Thank you for helping us keep Dunollie so neat! Find out more about our community groups here - https://dunollie.org/get-involved/

26/05/2026

This is the one we've been building up to 💙

This weekend, Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 May, our Cobalt Blue pop-up exhibition opens at the Silver Birch Gallery in the Rockfield Centre. 10am to 4pm both days, free to visit, and well worth an hour of your weekend.

Here's what's waiting for you:

✨ Two dresses, side by side. The original belonged to Jean Hadfield, mother of our 31st Clan Chief, Madame Morag MacDougall Morley. The recreation was hand sewn this year by our Education and Learning Officer, Flora, and students from Oban High School, using materials donated by members of the public. If you gave fabric earlier in the year, come and see where it ended up.

✨ Cobalt Blue itself - the closing theme of our National Lottery Heritage Fund project, Sophy and White. Objects from our collection telling the story of the cobalt blue mining industry.

✨ A film made by Beth Chalmers, shown alongside the collection objects.

It's a proper community effort from start to finish, and a lovely way to mark the end of the project. Bring the family, bring a pal, bring anyone who donated fabric and wants to see the result.

📍 Silver Birch Gallery, the Rockfield Centre
📅 Sat 30 & Sun 31 May, 10am-4pm
Free entry. See you there.

26/05/2026

Adversaries to Allies Study Day: Bràiste Latharna/The Brooch of Lorn
Sat 27 June, 10:00-16:15 at Argyll Estates Archives, Cherry Park, Inveraray.

Hear from experts from National Museums Scotland, the John Dewar Project and Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds on the history and significance of the beautiful Brooch of Lorn, and visit the display of the replica in Inveraray Castle. This bilingual event is supported by CHArts Argyll and Isles Oifigear Cultair Ghàidhlig, Àdhamh Ó Broin, who will act as chair.

Tickets: £25 per person including coffee/tea and a sandwich lunch.
Book at https://argyllestatesarchives.org/shop or by emailing [email protected]