Strathpeffer

Strathpeffer Spa Pavilion

As you approach Strathpeffer from the east, you might, if you're quick, notice signs to the Eagle Stone on the hillside to your right. This is a stone carved with Pictish insignia and moved to this spot from lower in the valley, according to one version of events, to commemorate the victory of the Munros over the MacDonalds in 1411. The stone itself dates back to around the 600s.

Cromartie Buildings Strathpeffer  Spa Shop The Old Station Old Sampling Pavilion Pump Room and Tourist Information

The Brahan Seer, Scotland's answer to Nostradamus, is said to have predicted that should the stone fall three times then ships would anchor on the spot. The story continues that the stone has fallen twice since being placed here. As its located very close to the 50 metre contour, a third fall could be very bad news for Dingwall, down the hill and on the coast.

The Eagle Stone

Direction Sign

The Brahan Seer died, according to one version of the story, in about 1675, but many of his prophesies are believed to have come true, including the Highland Clearances and the Caledonian Canal. That is perhaps why the Eagle Stone is now discreetly cemented in position.

Strathpeffer itself is the most un-Scottish of Scottish towns. It has variously been compared to Harrogate in Yorkshire and to a Bavarian mountain resort. All such comparisons fail to do justice to somewhere quite unique. Strathpeffer has to be experienced on its own terms to be really appreciated.

The town owes its growth to the discovery in the 1700s of sulphurous springs declared, in 1819, to be the most healthy in Britain. This led to a steady stream of visitors from around Europe and beyond; a stream that grew dramatically with the coming of the railway built specifically to service the spa.

In recent times it has only intermittently been possible to sample the waters, first in the pagoda-like room in the car park on the opposite side of the main road, and now in the Pump Room a little uphill from the Pavilion itself, which also serves at the Tourist Information Centre.

The original Spa Pavilion has been magnificently restored after a period of disuse. It now serves as a multi-purpose venue for a variety of events, including concerts, dances, dramatic productions, conferences and exhibitions, as well as weddings and other functions.

Trains no longer bring visitors to Strathpeffer, but the Victorian railway station still stands, having been restored to house craft workers and their shops. The Old Railway Station is also the home of the the Highland Museum of Childhood, a superb exhibition about childhood in the Highlands of Scotland and which covers subjects as diverse as toys and play on the one hand, and child labour on the other. It is open from April to October.

In many ways the main reason to come to Strathpeffer is to see and enjoy the town itself. The buildings, though in a wide variety of styles, all exude a no-expense-spared solidity that says much about their largely Victorian origins and about the wealth of the town at the time that much of it was built. Large and not so large hotels are interspersed with attractive houses and villas and some attractive churches, including St Anne's Episcopal Church.

The town is a popular base for walkers; there is plenty in the vicinity to suit all abilities. From the west end of the village a forest track leads to the hill of Cnoc Mor; a diversion en-route takes in Knock Farril a Pictish hill fort, worth the trip for the views alone. A more modern construction, dating from the early 1990s, is the Touchstone Maze. This is a maze formed from 81 stones in concentric circles, using many different types of rock found in Scotland.