- Location: Old Military Rd, Dunkeld PH8 0JR
- Opening times: 24 hours
- Entry: Free entry
- Access: Parking onsite, £3 charge.
The Hermitage is a short circular woodlands walk just off the A9 at Dunkeld and is, according to the information board in the car park, one of Scotland’s oldest tourist attractions created for the express purpose of attracting tourists (as opposed to older sites such as Edinburgh Castle or Iona Abbey that later became tourist destinations). It is not a natural landscape, but rather a designed ‘pleasure garden’ that was owned by the Dukes of Atholl and built by them as an extension to the gardens of their estate at Dunkeld House.
The main attractions are the towering Douglas Firs – this is part of Perthshire’s Big Tree country – and the tumbling River Braan, but there are man-made features to catch the eye along the way. By taking the path that follows the river, visitors will first come to Ossian’s Hall and Hermitage Bridge. Ossian’s Hall was built in 1782 – 83 to replace an earlier summerhouse, and, according to the National Trust for Scotland’s website, is “decorated with mirrors, sliding panels, and paintings” and “has been refurbished to re-create the illusions of shock, surprise, and amazement that were the aims of the folly’s original design”. Sounds brill, but unfortunately at this time of writing it is closed for repairs for the foreseeable future. The balcony of the Hall also offers the best view of the roaring Black Linn Falls, but a decent alternative is from the side of the Hall furthest from the bridge.
Continuing along the river path soon leads to Ossian’s Seat, a ramshackle collection of large stones that look as if they were dropped from a height, and Ossian’s Cave, a man-made home fit for a hermit that would makes ‘humble’ seem palatial in comparison. It is this that gives the Hermitage its name.
At this point one might reasonably be asking who this Ossian fella is, but the short answer is he is no one, a hoax character created by Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736 – 1796) who passed off his own work as a cycle of epic poems purportedly written by an ancient Gaelic poet he called Ossian. One might think Macpherson was castigated for his deception but, nope, he currently resides in Westminster Abbey’s Poets Corner along with the likes of Chaucer and Dickens.
The path now loops back, and following this rather than retracing your steps will lead, curiously, to a totem pole. There is no information sign, so why it is here, why it has fish for wings, and why it looks like Uncle Sam from The Muppets are all questions that must go unanswered. However, the car park information board does at least offer that it was carved by members of the Squamish Nation, indigenous people from the Vancouver area of Canada, from a local Douglas Fir.
Continuing along the path leads back to the car park, and the whole walk is 2 ½ miles long over easy terrain.
Destination or Diversion?
Even allowing for time taken admiring Black Linn Falls and the various follies, this walk will take no more than an hour, so is no more than a diversion. However, a trip here can be extended by following some of the other walking trails or visiting nearby Dunkeld and its cathedral.
