A Sunday afternoon amongst the Bluebells
It’s warm again at last! This inspired me to head out to one of the star attractions in the area at the moment – the bluebells! Perthshire is known as ‘Big Tree Country’ as it has over 200,000 acres of woodland! Come sprint time though, I am sure its more famous for its Snowdrops and Bluebells then the trees. I am fortunate and live close by two of the most stunning woods Darroch Wood Blairgowrie – Walk Highlands have a fab walking route detailed on their website and Kinclaven Wood maintained by Scottish Woodland Trust – have a look at their website to find more information about the wood and projects they have going on.
Darroch Wood can be accessed from two or three points around Blairgowrie. I chose a nice little car park at a small residential area called Carsie and walked down by a wee loch called White Loch **Please note please don’t let your dogs swim or drink from the Lochs on this walk. There was reports of dogs getting upset tummies from playing and drinking the water here last year.** This is very pretty little loch and is resident to all sorts of wildlife such as Beavers (many trees have been munched on our route round but no munchers to be seen) and also two Swans and their very small Cygnets.
Evidence of Beavers
We carried on passed the farm building and old water mill and passed Fingask Loch on our left. This is a very popular and well walked path which is nice and wide. We continue on down the path between the fields approaching the lovely clump of oak woodland in the distance.
As we passed through the gate we are greeted with a carpet of blue all around. The bluebells have been late in reaching their peak this year due to the cold spell (which has hopefully now gone!) but wow here they are in all their blue/purple glory! It is simply breathtaking and each year there are more and more appearing. Mac is a happy chap as this is a dog friendly walk so he is off with his ball exploring. This can be a very busy walk at times – if you wish to be there on your own, going during the day Monday – Friday is best.
We made our way round the wood being careful to stick to the paths so we don’t damage the plants admiring the stunning views all around within and outwith the wood. We made it round and back to the car in around 45 minutes but this walk can be made much longer using the Walk Highlands route in the link mentioned above.
We hopped in the car and headed off to Bluebell Wood mark two – Kinclaven. This wood is located between the A93 to Blairgowrie and Murthly. Woodland Trust now manage this wood and what a fab job they have done. The paths have been rerouted in parts of the wood to allow work to be done to trees and there has been a new car park built to accommodate visitors. Although at peak times this is often full and the old spaces along the roadside by the wood are used also. Care is to be taken in these wood also to avoid damaging the plants growing. The Bluebells are everywhere here too and it’s just haze of blue and purple. Today Kinclaven is very very busy – even busier than Darroch Wood so I decide to head on off an Mac and I will walk elsewhere later on.
It’s reassuring to see that the majority or the bluebells I have had the pleasure of seeing are the English Bluebell which is native to the UK. There is a spanish bluebell which grows here too which is not native and is quite invasive. It also cross breeds with the English variety which too is invasive. For more information on this, please visit the Wooland Trust websites here.
There are many yummy places to grab a cup of tea and a cake or lunch around Blairgowrie and Murthly. In Blair, there is the lovely Dalmore Inn, Meiklour Arms is one of my personal fave’s and it’s on route to Kinclaven. If you fancy a sweet treat – head over to Stewart Towers Dairy – they make their own delicious ice cream and have a small farm shop which sells local produce and gifts. These three places are very very popular and there maybe a wait for a table or ice cream – be patient it will most certainly be worth it!
Here is a handy downloadable PDF leaflet from Perth and Kinross Council of local Blairgowrie Walks.
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