DUNDONALD LINKS by JEMMA BEEDIE
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arwin Escapes unveiled its £25m development at Dundonald Links last month. The investment includes a £1m upgrade to the golf course, a new two-storey clubhouse, 18 luxury lodges and 22 new hotel rooms, a restaurant called The Canny Crow, and a secluded whisky room. The new star of the show is the two-storey clubhouse, featuring panoramic views to the Ailsa Craig and to the Isle fo Arran beyond. Constructed of natural materials and finished with local whistone and a grass roof, the building has been designed to blend with the local landscape, as part of Dundonald’s commitment to sustainability and conservation. Greg McGarry, restaurant manager told DRAM, “I think people are just impressed that there’s a venue like this in the area.” The new restaurant has a mid-century modernism with a clean, updated aspect. It is divided into three distinct spaces: a dining room, a more casual breakfasting and lunch area, and a bar. Though all three are housed in one large room, they flow into one another. The use of colour, texture, and lighting is enough to subtly suggest each space’s primary use without anything so brutal as a door or a sign.
Entrance to the restaurant and bar area is through the golfing shop and clubhouse below. A colourful abstract painting, ‘Petrichor’ by Callum Youde is the first thing we see, setting the tone of understated luxury. Mellow music plays from somewhere far above the few diners that are in on this Thursday lunchtime. There’s a gentle murmuration from groups enjoying just one more coffee, lulled by the setting. Turning into the room, one is confronted by the view. It is arresting and, thanks to the three walls of floor to ceiling windows, is prominent in each direction. It is possible to pick out the peak of Goatfell, Arran’s highest hill. Though it is over the water, a ferry ride and a strenuous climb away, it feels as though you could reach out and touch it. A wrap-around balcony also ensures that diners will be able to make the most of the panorama and the clement Gulf Stream weather whenever possible. Herringbone wood flooring, green tweed upholstery, paper and glass lampshades: the thing that’s most apparent when walking into the restaurant is the attention paid to texture. There is a lot going on in this room, and it would be possible for it to feel overcrowded or busy. Instead, the whole space has an DRAM DECEMBER 2021 21
