Blairgowrie and The Old Furnace

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Keathbank Mill, Blairgowrie

Way back in January we booked a week in a cottage over Easter. Well, you can guess what happened to that – zilch. However, rather than cancel, we pushed it back to mid-August, hoping, successfully, that travel would be possible by then. Blairgowrie in Perthshire is under two hours’ drive away, but so far this trip remains the furthest we have travelled all year.

Blairgowrie was built around the River Ericht which powered its textile industry: in 1860 it had eleven water-powered mills employing 1600 people. Today, many have been converted to apartments, as with Keathbank where we stayed, and some remain derelict, including the one on the opposite bank of the river to us.

Our cottage was The Old Furnace, seen on the right of the picture above. Our front door was in the chimney and above the entrance area was an octagonal shower! It was these quirky features which sold it to me when I saw it online. Below are some more views of the cottage inside and out. Sadly, there was only one day when it was warm enough to take our post-walk cuppa on the patio.

Front door in chimney
Welcome
The Old Furnace
Kitchen
Living room
Bedroom
Bedroom view
Patio
John on patio
Anabel on patio
Back view

Blairgowrie itself is a very attractive little town in a slightly old-fashioned sort of way. We liked the buildings and the interesting shopfronts. Many houses had beautiful, well-tended gardens, and some had unusual names. I’m not entirely sure I’d like to live at Wits End though!

Blairgowrie
Royal Hotel
Royal Hotel
War Memorial
War Memorial
HW Irvine
HW Irvine
HW Irvine
HW Irvine
HW Irvine
Fish shop sign
Opticians
Mitchell’s Newsagent
Mitchell’s Newsagent
Good News
Hairdresser
Hairdresser
Wits End
Sunflower
Sunflowers
Attractive garden
Attractive garden

We spotted some ghost signs, though strictly speaking the one to Cargill’s Leap is just an old sign, not a ghost, as Cargill’s Leap still exists.

Ghost sign
Potato fruit & general merchants
Ghost sign?

Finally, this old church now functions as Little’s Restaurant where we booked dinner for our last evening. It was lovely, but dining indoors still makes me nervous.

Little’s Restaurant
Little’s Restaurant

We spent the week following local paths and trails, mostly straight from our front door. More next time!

Scotland, UK ,

74 Comments »

  2. I like the photos of you and John with your tablets. Rob and I spend a considerable amount of our relaxation time the same way, each with our iPads in hand.

    Jude

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  4. So glad you managed to go on an adventure. We’ve only been to my Mum and to our new granddaughter so far, but hoping to convince MrB that a stay self catering might be an option.

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  8. Hi, Anabel – I love the quirky little features as well. Being able to access many paths and trails from your front door is a wonderful convenience.
    To discover a place like this less than two hours away is a remarkable find.
    Wishing all of us more travel in the not-too-distant future!

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  10. Glad you still got to enjoy a little holiday! I would also be intrigued by an octagonal shower, though I’m not so sure if I’d be keen to use it. Hotel showers gross me out at the best of times. I’m with you on indoor dining, though I haven’t really done any outdoor dining either, apart from a tea and biscuit at a museum cafe. I have been to a few outdoor markets, but I didn’t eat anything until I was well away from them and could safely unmask!

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  14. Now if you lived at Wit’s End, I am sure there would never be a shortage of comments from quick-witted visitors. The naming of basically everything always had us amused while being in the UK/Scotland and Wales.
    Towns never quite recover when a big industry leaves an area, after 2020 there will be plenty of small towns/cities being affected by unemployment around the world.
    On a positive note, here’s to you two finding more quirky places to stay.

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    • I think we’re all just about at our wits’ end! We had lunch a couple of times when we passed a pub while out walking which I enjoyed better than the dinner because it was more casual. The “special” evening atmosphere has been killed by all the necessary precautions. I was impressed by how they all handled these precautions though.

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  16. House looks lovely, and quirky. Passed through B many times on way to hills but never really stopped longer than ten minutes for takeaway food. Looks an interesting place though.

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  17. My mum used to live in Blacklunans, so I got to know Blairgowrie quite well and loved it. Thanks for reminding me of happy times Anabel. Your digs look amazing; glad that you were able to get that time away.

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  18. I’d love to stay there, too. It looks and sounds fascinating and what a great entrance! Glad you managed one trip away, that’s one more than me. I hope it won’t be too long before I feel safe enough to venture on a train and make a trip in the UK. Maybe a year down the line I’ll feel up to taking a plane and going further afield. At the moment, I feel totally marooned. Until now, nieces and nephews brought new boyfriends/girlfriends, great nieces and nephews loved visiting for the beach and fun, brothers and sisters loved the intimacy of family and we never thought how far away we lived one from the other. Now we know, all too well. Still, we’re still here counting our blessings.

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    • It’s hard how the world has shrunk, isn’t it? Takes you back to how it used to be I suppose. Now the West of Scotland has visiting restrictions, even those family members we had begin to see are out of bounds (except my mum, obviously). I loved this break because the cottage was self-contained and we didn’t have to mix with anyone. Trains and planes hold no appeal yet.

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  19. Must have been nice just to get away. I think we are suffering from cabin fever. I think we may have driven through your Blairgowrie en route to Glamis Castle from Dunkeld. A nice part of the world. Like you when booking holiday lets or B&Bs I go for the unusual ones!

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  21. Hi Anabel – what a fun stay bearing in mind the situation. Fun place to stay in … entrance via the chimney and then the octagonal shower … it looks a beautiful area … I lived in Blairgowrie a suburb of Johannesburg … so I’m pleased to see it in real. Take care – and safe – Hilary

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  23. I love the idea of living in a chimney, it’s the sort of thing you would find in a children’s story 🙂 I like the tiled picture of the pigs outside the butcher’s shop and the garden at the front of the red stone house looks really pretty 🙂

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  28. What a lovely cottage! Maybe some day …
    As the name sounded so familiar, I lust looked it up in Google Maps. I think my wife and I must have passed through it when we were staying in Edinburgh and drove to Braemar on a roundtrip through the Cairngorms. I don’t think I went through it on my own in the 90s. At that time I might have taken the A9 farther to the north.
    Oh so lovely memories. 🙂

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  29. What a delightfully quirky building to call home for a wee visit. I am sure it felt good to get a bit further away for a wee while. I have not even dined outdoors yet let alone indoors – though things are obviously much worse here than they are back home in Scotland – but we have been getting takeaway every couple of weeks to support local businesses and give me a break from cooking as our pandemic luxury.

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