28/11/2025
🏡 Achnasmeorach, 1927–1957 — From the Far East to Kilchrenan
This week’s look back into our shared history brings us to a remarkable home on Loch Awe — and to two people whose lives carried them through two world wars, across continents and finally to the shores of Kilchrenan.
✨ It begins in 1927, when Phyllis Fell-Clark first arrived at Achnasmeorach. Her father bought the house as a wedding gift for her marriage to Robert Bingham, son of the American Ambassador to Britain — a glittering start to a life that took many unexpected turns.
The couple sailed to America in 1938, but when war came in 1939, Phyllis returned to Britain alone. She joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANYs) and was later recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE), where she helped select and train agents for covert missions in occupied France.
During the war she crossed paths again with James “Jimmy” Young, whom she had first known years earlier at her parents’ home, Glen Caladh Castle near Tighnabruaich.
James had enlisted at just sixteen, serving at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, earning both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Cross. Between wars he managed a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, returning to military service in WWII to oversee commando training at Arisaig.
💍 The two married in 1944 — lives shaped by duty now bound by love.
After the war, they returned to Sri Lanka and became close friends with their neighbours, Robert and Moyra Johnston, through evenings of Scottish country dancing — a friendship that would eventually bring both families to Loch Awe.
➡️ Before leaving the Far East, James and Phyllis purchased the Portsonachan Hotel, transforming it into a renowned Highland destination. Guests remember Phyllis’s cooking, the warmth of the welcome — and "Colonel Young" piping every morning at 8am and every evening at 7pm, calling diners to the table in true Highland style.
And another memory that many locals will smile at:
🐾 Phyllis was well-known for breeding Scottish Deerhounds, keeping alive one of Scotland’s oldest native breeds — her deerhound tapestry was still being talked about in the 2018 Deerhound Club Magazine!
⛵️ In 1957, the Youngs sold Achnasmeorach to their friends the Johnstons — crossing Loch Awe in all weathers had taken its toll — but they continued to run the hotel until retiring in 1970.
Phyllis died in 1974, and James in 1978. They left behind a legacy of courage, hospitality and community — a life journey that began in wartime service and found its peace beside Loch Awe.
Many thanks for Colin Johnston for his memories of the Youngs. More to come about when his family live at Achnasmeorach in a future post!
🌿 Do you remember the Youngs, their deerhounds, or Portsonachan Hotel in its heyday? Do you have family stories, photos, or memories of Achnasmeorach?
Please share them in the comments — every piece helps us preserve our shared heritage.
