Further on is a spring known as Kinkhoast Well whose water was used to cure whooping cough
Further on is a spring known as Kinkhoast Well whose water was used to cure whooping cough (kink being the Scots word for whooping cough) Cough or no, the water is delicious. On Hogmanay, a riotously dressed procession headed by pipers fills the streets of Comrie. Lin and Kenneth Ascough restored it after decades as an ironmonger's and returned it to its original use. You can see Rennie Mackintosh touches everywhere in the counters and panelling. Lin makes gorgeous jumpers to order from merino, cashmere and lambswool (from pounds 48).Walk up to the Melville Monument for stunning views. The Lintmill, Comrie's draper's shop, was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Many hotels have a stretch of water already at their guests' disposal. For serious walkers, there are plenty of mountains: Ben Lawers, the highest in Perthshire at 3,984ft (1,214m), Ben Vorlich (3,231ft), Ben Vrackie (2,760ft) and Schiehallion (3,554ft), a weird near-perfect cone.The Comrie area. Rooms cost pounds 32-pounds 50, including breakfast.What to see and doFishing permits are available locally (tel: 01738 627958). As Michael says: "When you get here, you can stop travelling. People need to be still and remember what their childhood senses are for. Just look, listen, smell, and let it all seep in." On a clear autumn night you can hear the call of the rutting stags. Breakfast is kippers, home-baked bread and creamy porridge in the old hayloft, where the view across the water to the empty wooded hills is quite distracting This whole glen induces a kind of contentment.
The bedrooms have beautiful idiosyncrasies: guests in Room One can soak in a bath of soft peaty hillwater with a log fire burning in the hearth beside them. Dinner, bed and breakfast costs pounds 55-pounds 84 per person.The Loch Tummel Inn (tel: 01882 634272) at Glen Tummel is a lovely old coaching inn run by Liz and Michael Marsden, where television is by request only and mobile phones won't work. With five bedrooms, visitors are more house guests than hotel customers. Just outside Dunkeld, by the way, is the excellent Wester Caputh Independent Hostel (tel: 01738 710449) costing pounds 8 per night.Seated in a wooded gorge is the Killiecrankie Hotel (tel: 01796 473220), a cosy place covered in roses and wisteria and with a garden Children are very welcome and the food is brilliant. Double bedrooms cost pounds 255-pounds 350 per night (shooting is extra).