Bellarine Traveller: The Journey to Perthshire

When I left Inverness I drove by Loch Ness. On the way there was a lengthy traffic hold-up and you had to wait for a convoy vehicle to take you past a works site. The works site was interesting to say the least! There are signs along the roadway warning of possible rock-falls. The works site was several men hanging from abseiling ropes using a pneumatic drill, drilling into hard rock and then attaching wire-mess of some sort to help with falling rocks. Hope they got danger money!

The drive took me through many beautiful glens and snow covered highlands including Ben Nevis (which was partly obscured by cloud). I stopped at Blair Atholl and took a tour through Blair Castle which was worth the stop.

The journey then took me through Pitlochry – quite a large town and I suspect a popular holiday destination if the number of hotels & B&B’s is anything to go by. I arrived in Dunkeld for my overnight stop and what a lovely place this is. If I had known how lovely it was I may have stayed longer. It is a beautiful small village with the main attraction being Dunkeld Cathedral.

The Cathedral is in two parts – the old and the new. The Cathedral is on the banks of the River Tay, a superb location. The lady in the National Trust shop told me if I hurried into the cathedral I would be in time to see the ‘Hand-Bell Ringers’ demonstration. So, I did hurry and it was well worth the rush. There were two ladies ringing hand-bells, they explained about the bells and then played several songs. They played a mixture of church music and some well known tunes – it was something really different and I enjoyed it.

After my overnight stop in Dunkeld I travelled a few miles further on to Perth. The weather has again turned cold and wet so sightseeing was a bit challenging. However I did on the advice of 'M' from Dundee visit Scone Palace. This is where the Kings of Scotland were crowned and is the traditional home of the 'Stone of Scone' - these days there is a replica stone here.

I have enjoyed visiting some castles/stately-homes and I keep thinking about a comment made to my mother and myself a few years ago after we had visited Versailles in France. We were waiting for transport to go back to Paris and three English ladies were waiting with us. They asked what we thought about Versailles – needless to say we told them how much we enjoyed the visit. They then commented that, compared to the stately homes in England they were rather disappointed. After visiting several places in Scotland I do have an understanding now about what they meant – however they are not really better, just different.

Even though it has been wet I did decide to visit another National Trust property almost in the centre of Perth. Most of the NT properties in this area are outdoor areas including “Branklyn Gardens” where I went.

Well – talk about impressive!

It is 2 acres of beautiful garden. I would describe it as a mixture of a woodland/cottage/rambling garden. There are many rare and unusual plants here including the Himalayan Blue Poppy and it was in flower. The garden has many wonderful trees including several varieties of Japanese Maples. The garden does specialise in plants from China, Tibet, Bhutan and the Himalayas. There were also many the bulbs and plants that I did know and we do see many of them in Australia.

Looking forward to exploring more of Perthshire.