The pub closed in 2020 and the residents bought it back: the Isle of Bute has a moated castle, seals on the beach and a 35-minute ferry from the mainland

Bute is an island in the Firth of Clyde, west of Glasgow, covering around 122 square kilometres. You get there by ferry from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay in thirty-five minutes. That is all - no bridge, no airport, no queue at the entrance. This Thursday William and Kate arrived there, holding the Scottish titles of Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, and by evening the island was in newspapers worldwide.

The question is what is there once the cameras leave.

A castle with four towers and a moat that still holds water

Rothesay Castle dates from the thirteenth century and is a rarity in Scotland - circular, with four towers, surrounded by a moat that still has water in it today. Most Scottish fortresses are rectangular and sit on a rock; this one was built like a wheel on flat ground. The entrance is right in the town centre, which means you do not have to go anywhere to reach it.

A few steps away are the Victorian public toilets from 1899, with their original marble and tiling. Yes, that is a tourist attraction, and yes, it is odd - but the building is authentic and nobody turned it into a museum replica.

Mount Stuart: 120 hectares around one house

Six kilometres south of Rothesay stands Mount Stuart, a Victorian palace with marble interiors, stained glass and a ceiling designed around astronomical and mythological motifs. Around it - 120 hectares of gardens. This is not a renovated country estate with a cafe at the entrance; it is a house built at a time when the owner had no reason whatsoever to think about a budget.

Beaches with seals and a sixth-century chapel

Ettrick Bay in the north-west has golden sand. Scalpsie Bay has reddish sand and a seal colony visible from the shore. At St Ninian's Bay stands a small sixth-century chapel, and at the southern end, at St Blane's, the remains of a monastery from the same period. The West Island Way walking trail links the island end to end.

The pub the residents bought back

This is the part worth remembering. The Anchor Tavern in Port Bannatyne closed in 2020. In 2021 the residents bought it through their own development trust and reopened it. That is exactly where the royal couple walked in yesterday.

A closed pub in a village of two hundred people usually stays closed. When it does not, it is because somebody sat down, made a list and collected money from the neighbours. How many buildings like that sit locked here, waiting for somebody to do the same?

William and Kate have previously been to Orkney, Skye, Mull and Iona. The list looks like a tourist itinerary and functions as policy: every visit like this is a message that Scotland is not the periphery. The island, of course, was there before them.