Blair Atholl

House of Bruar

Today's traveller to the far north can stay on the A9, and pass by Blair Atholl with but the briefest of glimpses of Blair Castle, white against the dark green of a distant hillside. It was not always so. Until the early 1980s the main road north went through the village. Its removal across the valley to the west left Blair Atholl a much more peaceful place.

Blair Castle West Gate Railway Station

Today's visitor will find in Blair Atholl an extremely attractive stone village built to an obvious plan. In effect it is the estate village for Blair Castle whose estate wall runs the length of the north eastern side of the main road, and whose main gate is just to the south east of the centre of the village. To find out more visit our Feature Page for Blair Castle.

It gives a sense of the scale of the Blair Castle estate to know that the western gate also opens out onto this main road, but the better part of two miles west of the village. If this makes you at all envious, just remember that you don't have to cut their lawn...

Post Office and Shops

Water Mill

The village comprises a wonderful run of stone buildings facing the estate across the main road, including a post office and the Blair Atholl Hotel. Behind the hotel can be found the railway station, on the main line from Perth to Inverness. Next door to the hotel you can find a slight oddity: a bookshop converted from a petrol station.

Up the side road from the hotel is the small village supermarket. A little further along the same road, just beyond the railway crossing, you find a working water mill dating back to 1613 that also serves refreshments.

Though not strictly part of Blair Atholl, two other major attractions should be mentioned here. The first is north west of the village, where the old road rejoins the "new" A9. Here you will find the strikingly constructed House of Bruar. Sometimes referred to as the Harrods of the North this is in effect a shopping mall for luxury and high quality goods from Scotland and beyond. One story suggests that it was designed so it could be converted into a hotel if this rather adventurous retail venture didn't work out: but to judge from its car park every time we pass, it doesn't seem likely to be taking bookings just yet.

Three miles south east of Blair Atholl is the Pass of Killiecrankie, the site of the first battle of the 1689 Jacobite rebellion. The fourteen foot wide soldier's leap across the river here was allegedly jumped by a government soldier fleeing from the highlanders. Visit it from the National Trust for Scotland visitor centre in the Pass and judge for yourself whether this seems likely. And decide for yourself whether you believe the stories that the pass is haunted, and that carriages - and in more recent times motor vehicles - passing through are sometimes pursued at night.