Sue Anderson visits the lowlands where she takes in the tranquil surroundings, with time set aside for trips to local landmarks and eateries.
Kitchen With Woodburning Stove
Glenalbyn Cottage is at the edge of St Fillans village, the eastern gateway to the Trossachs, alongside the river Earn flowing from Loch Earn about 400 yards away. It’s a large cottage, sleeping eight in three double rooms and one twin, with up to two dogs. One of the bedrooms has an en-suite, but I chose a bright, airy room with windows on three sides and fine views over the mountain behind. The living room is particularly comfortable, there’s a sophisticated TV/DVD/sound system, an impressive library of books and a vast selection of games and jigsaws, with good Wi-Fi throughout the house. It has a wood-burning stove in the kitchen and a liquid-fuel stove in the living room, neither of which I needed, even in March, as the central heating was more than adequate. Tiled and wooden floors throughout the ground floor relieve any concerns about wet paw prints. The kitchen has a dining table large enough to seat eight in comfort and there are all the usual kitchen appliances, including two fridges. The garden is large and well fenced with a rotary washing-line and plenty of seating for morning coffee outside or evening drinks as the sun goes down. An outside hose is handy for muddy dogs and there’s room for two or three cars in the driveway.
Huts in the renovated Cultybraggan Camp
In the town of Comrie (around seven miles from St Fillans) we took a peaceful walk alongside the Water of Ruchill to Cultybraggan Camp,a WWII Nazi prisoner-of-war camp that is now community owned and managed. Interpretation boards around the orchard, allotments and woodland tell some of the history of this once notorious PoW camp. Cafe 21, in one of the restored shelters, has beautiful cakes and is open Thursday to Monday from 8am for breakfast. It has an outside seating area for dogs and their owners. There’s a fascinating interactive and hands-on dog-friendly museum with artefacts from prisoners and warders. From Comrie we also walked to The Diel’s Cauldron (an atmospheric waterfall) and had a steep climb to the Melville Monument, a monolith on top of Dun More from which we could see Loch Earn in the distance. The return track took us along the peaceful Glen Lednock valley. Comrie, it transpires, is the earthquake capital of the UK, known locally as ‘Shaky Toon’. Just outside the town is Earthquake House, the world’s first seismic activity monitoring station, situated on the Highland Faultline. It is a tiny building in the middle of a field and through the door you can see the original seismometer, a wooden cross on the floor with pegs of various diameters balanced on end along the arms of the cross (like a game of quoits). The vigour of the earth-tremors determine which of the pegs topple; the heavier the pegs, the more violent the earthquake.
Earthquake House Shaky Toon
Today, there’s also a state-of-the-art seismic recorder. From Glenalbyn Cottage we hiked up the hills above Loch Earn, to a viewpoint at the ‘surge outfall’ where water pumped from Glen Lednock reservoir plunges vertically into an underground power station to drive the turbines. On the other side of the river is an isolated hill called Dundurn, the site of Saint Fillan’s Cell, the saint who gave his name to the village. From here you get a great view of the valley and the village. In front of the cottage is a riverside walk created by the local community. There are flowers and benches and it is perfect for a quick late-night or early morning walk with your dog. Look out for the feral goats! On one of the our days we decided to drive the Bliss sculpture trail, which takes in the four and St Fillans (and is around 30 miles in total). St Fillans has a sculpture called ‘Still’, a 3m high stainless steel figure positioned serenely in the loch.
Bliss Sculpture Trail
The trail promotes local art and blends Scottish culture with the landscape. In Strathyre we wandered up the beautiful Tighanes Burn, after a delicious lunch at the Broch Cafe. Pip was made welcome and given treats, while I chose a filling soup and sandwich, followed by a cake and excellent coffee. When returning from Strathyre be sure to take the South Loch Earn road, a single-track lane running the length of the loch with some stunning scenery along the way. At Balquidder, a visit to Rob Roy’s grave in the churchyard is a must. Rob Roy was a famous outlaw and folk hero. His grave bears the motto ‘MacGregor despite them’ Crieff was another town with lots to offer. We had a strenuous walk up The Knock, a steep wooded hill that gives extensive views of the boundary between the Highlands and Lowlands. The trees up here were festooned with Old Man’s Beard, which is an indicator of how pure the air is (if a little rarefied) at this altitude. We downloaded all walks from the Walk Highlands website. After our exertions we dined at Cafe Rhubarb. The choice of savoury pancakes was excellent and the dessert pancakes were irresistible. Several dogs were inside.
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Well Fenced Garden at the Property
Glenalbyn Cottage is managed by Cooper Cottages. Emails and telephone calls regarding bookings were answered promptly. Clients are given discount vouchers for local activities, tours and rentals. I took advantage of this to book a Red Squirrel watching trip with Aquila wildlife and nature CIC, who run tailored tours to view local wildlife. We drove to nearby woods where placing a few hazelnuts and walnuts on fallen trees resulted in a close encounter with four red squirrels. Other nearby attractions include Auchingarrich Wildlife Park & Highland Cattle centre; Drummond Castle Gardens and the Scottish Crannog centre, which is the reconstruction and history of man-made islands on Scottish lochs. There’s also sailing, horse riding and various watersports to tempt you close by .All in all, Glenalbyn Cottage is a great place to stay with your dog – quiet, spacious and secure with plenty for you to do in the surrounding area.
Fact File
Property – Glenalbyn Cottage, Main Street. St Fillans, Crieff, Perthshire, PH6 2ND
Contact – Grant of Leah 07879 853139, or email holiday@coopercottages.com
Price – From around £900 for 7 nights, sleeps 8 in four bedrooms, with up to 2 dogs free of charge.
Website – coopercottages.com
