Let's Go Outside: Ideal walk for introducing kids to joy of countryside

May 8 2009 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

THIS easy walk around Forgandenny explores the fertile landscape of lower Strathearn.

It passes colourful gardens, lush farmland and woodland at the foot of the Ochils.

It’s an ideal outing for introducing children to the delights of the countryside, especially in spring with so many sights, sounds and scents.

This month, bees are humming and the air is sweet with the scent of gorse and blossom. Trees, hedgerows and fields have suddenly turned a vivid green, and wildflowers are brightening the woods and verges. Skylarks and lapwings sing overhead, and if you’re lucky you could see a red squirrel in the woods.

As the days are rapidly lengthening, this short walk will fit into an evening. The route is 3.5 miles long and, after an initial exploration of the village, it makes two loops, the first through farmland and the second through woodland. You can shorten it by a mile if you leave out the farther loop through Garblie Wood.

1. Village and park

Walk down Station Road with a stone wall on your left and a small field on the right. Turn first right, at a sign for Church and School, into the village centre. Walk past pretty cottages then, opposite the Primary School, go right again onto a tarmac path between houses. Continue through a play park, only a field away from Station Road. Emerge on to the main road, the B935, beside the post office and turn left to the bus stop. (Start here if you arrive by public transport).

2. Kinnaird Road

Cross the road by the bus stop and walk up the lane opposite – Kinnaird Road. Keep straight on at a junction and soon leave the houses behind. The tarmac lane steadily rises up Kinnaird Hill, with splendid views back over Forgandenny. Come to Kinnaird Farm on top of the hill and, after passing all the buildings turn right, on a stony track that angles downhill with a panoramic view along the face of the Ochils.

3. Kinnaird Cottage

When the track bends left towards Lochend Farm, turn right on an earth track that runs along the top edge of a field. The track passes below a small stand of trees then goes gently downhill towards a house. Just before a garage with a red door, keep left through a small gate and follow a fenced path between field and garden. This bends around the house and emerges through another swing gate on to a gravel track.

4. Woodend

To omit the woodland loop, turn right and return as described in the final paragraph. For the full walk, turn left and keep left of the wrought iron gates of another house to walk over a cattle grid and up a track towards the hills. Pass a pony field then, rather than following the track left at the top, keep straight ahead on a grass path between a second field and gorse bushes. This leads up to the corner of Garblie Wood, from where there is a wide view over Strathearn.

5. Garblie Wood

Immediately after rounding the fence at the corner of the wood, turn right through a wooden gate or over the ruined fence beside it. Walk into the wood on a track, which soon leads to a junction. Take the left track, heading gently uphill with a relatively open little valley on the left. Keep ahead on the track as it becomes more vague and its surface softer underfoot. Where it begins going downhill, the pine trees on the right mark the top edge of a small quarry. Join a better-used track and turn right along it, passing the disused quarry.

6. County Place

Soon come to a junction with another larger track and turn sharp right to walk along it. This returns along the north side of the wood to the junction passed earlier. Turn left back to the edge of the wood then left again down the path and track past the pony fields and over the cattle grid.

Now keep ahead down the gravel track between the two houses. This leads back through pleasant countryside to Forgandenny, becoming tarmac as it enters the village. Walk through County Place then turn left to the main road and bus stop. Go left then first right to return to Station Road.

Grade

C – Easy

Distance

2.5 or 3.5 miles (5.6km)

Time

1 to 2 hours

Terrain

Farm lanes and woodland paths through rolling Strathearn countryside.

Map

OS Explorer 369 or OS Landranger 58.

Start/parking

Take the B935 to Forgandenny and turn into Station Road, signposted Church and School, GR: NO 087181. Park away from junctions.

Public transport

Bus service runs regularly from Perth via Bridge of Earn. Traveline: 0871 200 22 33 or www.travelinescotland.com.

Refreshments

Nearest is the Roost in Bridge of Earn.

Suitable for

Fairly easy, suitable for all ages. Some lanes/tracks well used by horse riders.