One of our favourite outings is to the small town of Dollar in Clackmannanshire, from where we walk up Dollar Glen to Castle Campbell. We did this most recently in December 2016. Unfortunately, since the last time we visited, the hotel bar in which we usually ate lunch has closed – the horror! – but we found a more than adequate substitute in the Bridge Street Kitchen – hooray!

Suitably fortified, we made our way past some chain saw carving and up West Burnside.

Chainsaw carving by Rodney Holland

Kelly Burn

Just where the footpath to the castle begins there is a small museum in an old mill building. In all our years of visiting Dollar we have never been in – until this time. It’s a fascinating collection of information on local history staffed by friendly volunteers (an extensive chat with one unearthed three mutual acquaintances). I was particularly interested in the section on Lavinia Malcolm, a woman I had never heard of but who was the first woman town councillor (1907) and the first woman Provost (Mayor – 1913) in Scotland. We noted that we must have walked past a plaque on her former home and decided to look out for it on our way back.

Lavinia Malcolm panel

Lavinia Malcolm model (detail)

After the museum, we climbed up the Glen past this intriguing money mushroom – I’ve seen money trees before but this is a first – to the point where we could look back on the view you can see in the post header. Castle Campbell soon loomed over us.

Money mushroom

Castle Campbell

Castle Campbell

We had spent so long in the museum that the castle was about to close by the time we got there, so we passed it by and returned down the other side of the glen. The lights had come on by the time we got back to Dollar making it look very festive.

Castle Campbell

Dollar Glen

Kelly Burn

As hoped, we found Lavinia’s house and memorial plaque.

Former home of Lavinia Malcolm

Plaque to Lavinia Malcolm

My favourite kind of walk – countryside and history combined! For more walks of all kinds, pop over to Jo’s Monday Walk for a wide choice of topics.