Very soon our chances of just jetting off for the weekend will be few and far between with the baby. So I surprised Ben with a night away at the Atholl Palace in Pitlochry for his birthday. We both love the countryside in Perthshire, it has just the right mix of forrests, mountains and lochs. As we were in the area, a trip to the Edradour distillary was called for so that Ben could be treated to his favourite cask strength whisky.
The weather on Saturday was pretty rubbish so we headed back to the hotel and camped out there for the rest of the day. It’s a great hotel, we had a really comfy room to slob around in and to finish watching Modern Family. Love it! The spa area is really nice to and I really enjoyed bobbing around in the swimming pool with the bump. It’s set within some lovely grounds complete with deer and hedgehogs that will walk across your path! Pitlochry is just a 10 minute walk away s we headed there for dinner.
The following day was full of sunshine so we headed for The National Trust’s Hermitage by Dunkeld for a walk through a truly beautiful forest.
The walk takes you along a river and amongst some stunning old trees which are dripping with moss and lichens. There are so many delights along the path, we saw Britain’s tallest tree which is a Douglas Fir, an amazing waterfall which can be viewed from what I can only compare to a building belonging to the Norse Gods, lots of birds including Bullfinches and the best surprise was stumbling upon Ossian’s cave. The place even smelt amazing like sugary candyfloss. Needless to say I was in heaven … I couldn’t have pulled a more magical forest out of my head.
After that we headed into Dunkeld for some lunch which a pretty little place with a few nice shops and white buidings. The cathedral is a nice spot to stop as it’s on the bank of a large river and is very picturesque.
We feel like we’ve been away for much longer than a night and are feeling incredibly chilled after it. Awesome!