A Sunday Adventure to Ardoch Fort

Today I decided we were going to tag along with my folks and visit somewhere historic! My parents really like visiting sites of Roman Forts and have avidly followed the BBC one TV series ‘Scotland from the Sky’ ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09wzvn7 ) which looked at various sites in Scotland from a plane. This site featured on this program.

The Roman Fort is called Ardoch and it is located at the village of Braco which is located south of Perth (not to far from Gleneagles and Auchterarder). We travelled down the A9 South from Perth, turned off and headed for Braco.

Greenloaning and Braco and beautiful little villages with stunning views out toward the hills. There is a fab wee shop in Braco and a lovely coffee shop too called Braco Coffee.

To get to the site we went through Braco itself and just outside the village is a layby on the left hand side, we parked up here and had lunch. After a quick munch we headed out of the car and followed core path signs for Ardoch Mill. This took us down some steps and toward a large burn. We could turn right and head toward Ardoch Mill or turn left and head to Braco. We turned left and followed the burn back toward Braco. This is lovely path surrounded by beech trees and wildflowers. It is worth noting at this point that the path is very close to the road so I kept Mac on the lead.

The path pops out on a bad corner (it is worth walking up toward Braco across the bridge to cross the road as it is very busy). Directly across the road is the gate to Ardoch Estate which is home to the Ardoch Fort. This field has livestock in it and it is worth keeping any dogs on the lead or under very close control.

After crossing the road, we popped through the gate and started to explore. Although there is no masonry left on the site the mounds of the ditches and foundations are still there. This is a very big site as it’s too interconnecting Forts. It is one of the best-preserved series of Roman military earthworks in the UK and the Empire.

Whilst walking around the site, we marvelled at the thought of these Forts being built by hand and how methodical and meticulous the Romans were. They had designated work forces that dealt with specific tasks such building tents, chopping trees, digging etc. Everyone had their own task. It’s so lovely to see wildflowers such as Viola’s and Bluebells dotted about the paths and the rain has stopped and the sun has come out.

To find out more about this Fort I have popped a couple of links to various websites that contain more information: 
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/braco/ardochromanfort/index.html

https://www.historyscotland.com/articles/scottish-archaeology/ten-top-roman-scotland-sites

It took us around 45 minutes – 1 hour to get round the site. There are stunning views all round of the hills, it’s a very peaceful place to be despite being beside the main road. We headed back the way we came with Mac off diving into the burn after his tennis ball to cool down.

This Fort is well worth a visit of you like historical sites. We did comment on how it is much easier to picture this site as a Fort when watching the BBC programme of looking at ariel photos online. It is quite tricky to see how the Forts would have connected from eye level.

Not only can you visit and walk around Braco, there is so much to do around the area too. Gleneagles Golf Course and Hotel is located a short distance away, as is Stirling Castle. If you fancy heading West, Crieff and Comrie are not far away or head south to visit Bridge of Allan (there is a brilliant cafe there called Allan Water Cafe – they do fab fish and chips and delicious homemade ice cream), Dunblane and Stirling.

We have two beautiful properties located not far from Braco – Gleneagles Cottage and Strathview Cottage. Please click on the names of these properties to check their availability.