Houseboats? Not on our ‘bonnie banks’, say Loch Lomond Association

THEY inspired one of Scotland’s most acclaimed painters and were a way of life for those who lived on them.

Now, after an absence of decades, a laird is hoping to reintroduce houseboats to the shores of one of Scotland’s most popular visitor destinations.

Sir Malcolm Colquhoun, the 9th Baronet of Luss, is at the forefront of contentious plans to install a series of floating homes on Loch Lomond.

He believes the project would “bring back a piece of history” to the Bonnie Banks, saying houseboats were a popular attraction on the loch from the turn of the 20th century.

However, the Loch Lomond Association (LLA) warns that if approved, the proposals will open the door to similar ventures that could prove hugely detrimental to the “irreplaceable scenic landscapes” in Scotland’s first national park.

The plans are the brainchild of Colquhoun’s Luss Estates and hark back to the small but thriving houseboat community berthed on Loch Lomond in the first half of last century.

The tradition of “having a boat on the loch” grew substantially after the First World War and by the 1920s, a boat-based community was well established at Balloch. The local council did a survey of the cabin cruisers and houseboats moored on or beached beside the River Leven at Balloch in July 1925 and estimated that 350 people were living in 126 craft. There were 15 permanently inhabited houseboats.

Among those who lived on the loch was George Leslie Hunter, the Scottish Colourist, who is widely recognised to have produced the finest, most spontaneous work of his life while staying in Balloch. It was there in the summer months of 1931 that he produced Houseboats, Balloch with brightly painted vessels reflected in the loch’s waters.