4 Best Sights in Dunkeld, Stirling and the Central Highlands

The interactive exhibition, specifically designed for children, celebrates the life and work of this much-beloved children's writer who, for many years, spent her family holidays in the area. You're free to walk around the enchanting garden where you can peep into the homes of Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, her best-known characters. The visitor center has a well-stocked shop and a small café serving breakfast, lunch, and coffee and cake. The garden is a mile south of Dunkeld, in Birnam.

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the future king meets three witches who prophesy his downfall "when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane." They were right. The trees of the once dense wood camouflaged the besieging armies approaching Macbeth's castle at Dunsinane. The Birnam Oak (now sustained by crutches) and the Birnam Sycamore are all that remain of the once great wood, though perhaps not as Macbeth knew it in the 11th century.

On the outskirts of Dunkeld, the Hermitage is a 1½-mile woodland walk that follows the River Braan. In the 18th century, the dukes of Atholl constructed two follies (fantasy buildings) here, Ossian's Cave and the awesomely decorated Ossian's Hall, above a spectacular—and noisy—waterfall. (Ossian was a fictional Celtic poet invented by James MacPherson in the 18th century for an era fascinated by the "primitive" past.) You'll also be in the presence of Britain's tallest tree, a Douglas fir rising to 214 feet.

From the lochside hides at this Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve near Dunkeld, you can observe the area's rich birdlife through a powerful telescope. The main attractions are always the ospreys, one of Scotland's conservation success stories, which can be observed between April and August. But there is much to see throughout the year, like the great crested grebe at feeding stations. The enthusiastic staff will willingly describe what is happening around the center.