Dunkeld

RETURN TO THE GOOD SOUP GUIDE
A - Z

Dunkeld's inhabitants have very long legs. This evolutionary advancement allows them to alight from the train without the need of ladders, as is the case with those who come from elsewhere. For the railway platform at Dunkeld Station, in Birnam, is much lower that most other stations, so low that a small wooden set of steps is available to allow a dignified descent from the train and from what seems like a lofty height. The town is a photographer's paradise. It is just so utterly beautiful. Sitting amidst a backdrop of rolling tree-clad hills. it boasts a crumbling cathedral, colourful buildings - some of which are blue and huggable - and a lofty bridge over the wide River Tay. The fact that it has a cathedral means, technically, it is a city, but the word 'city' brings to mind images of a great heaving metropolis, and Dunkeld most certainly is not that. It is a lazy sort of place; lazy and slow and serene. When you first walk into the town over Dunkeld Bridge (designed by Thomas Telford) you feel a great rush of excitement, because the scene that unfolds before you is one that is stunningly attractive. Beatrix Potter also thought it attractive. Her family spent many holidays here. On Tuesday July 26th 1892, she wrote, 'We left Kings Cross Station in London by the Flying Scotsman, arriving in Birnam at about eight in the morning. Benjimin Bunny travelled in a covered basket.' One presumes that the bunny then alighted from the train by means of a knotted hanky parachute.