Dewar's by Bus from Perth – Drams, Lunch and Wade's Bridge
A day, from Mill Street, Perth and back.
The Dewar family built their distillery at Aberfeldy in the 1890s, choosing the spot for its pure water and, by one account, its railway to Perth.
The trains are long gone, but the bus from Perth still makes it a car-free day. It's a tour at Dewar's with two drams (small measures of whisky), then Aberfeldy's history on foot, from General Wade's bridge over the Tay to the Black Watch monument. It suits anyone who wants the tasting without a driver and doesn't mind a little over three hours on the bus.
It starts on an early bus out of Perth, and by mid-morning you're among the stills and casks of Dewar's Aberfeldy.
The afternoon is the little town of Aberfeldy on foot, from a sit-down lunch to the banks of the Tay.
Pick your dates, and who is coming, and every stop will say whether it is open that day, and what it is like with children, a dog or a wheelchair.
- How
- A day
- When
- A Monday-to-Saturday idea, on a day when the Dewar's Aberfeldy Experience starts between about 10.30am and 11am: on Sundays one bus runs each way between Perth and Aberfeldy, and Dewar's Aberfeldy shuts on Sundays from November to March. Dewar's opens Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm from November to March and 10am to 6pm from April to October, with a short closure over Christmas. The Three Lemons serves lunch Wednesday to Saturday; on Mondays and Tuesdays lunch is at the Aberfeldy Watermill.
- Distance
- About 2 miles
- Starts and ends
- Mill Street, Perth
- Good for
- Whisky, History
Book before you go
0 of 2 booked
Accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
- Book
The Dewar's Aberfeldy Experience
Pick a day from Monday to Saturday when the 90-minute Experience starts between about 10.30am and 11am (the times show in Dewar's booking calendar, or ring 01887 822010), and if none does, choose another day. The 8.35am 34A from Perth's Mill Street gets you to the visitor centre at about 10.20am, and the 8.25am on Saturdays at about 10.05am (check the times), and a tour starting by 11am leaves time for lunch and the bridge before the 2.40pm bus home. It's 90 minutes with two drams, from £25 at the time of writing.
The day
Dewar's Aberfeldy
An attraction
The 34A leaves stop E on Perth's Mill Street, by the cinema and about twelve minutes' walk from the railway station, at 8.35am from Monday to Friday and 8.25am on Saturdays. It takes just over an hour and a half (check the times). Dewar's says the number 23 can stop outside the distillery on request. The 34A's first stop in the town is opposite the caravan site, about 400 metres past the entrance, so plan to get off there and walk about eight minutes back along the roadside path and up the drive. Book a day when the 90-minute Dewar's Aberfeldy Experience starts between about 10.30am and 11am (Dewar's booking calendar shows the times, or ring 01887 822010); if none does, choose another day. The tour follows the whisky from the mill and the wooden washbacks to the stillhouse, though for about a month each winter production pauses and some areas may be shut, so ask when booking. It ends in a tasting of Dewar's Scotch whisky and Aberfeldy single malt, and with nobody driving, both drams are yours. Outside, Dewar's keeps a green tank engine among the casks.
15 min on foot
The Three Lemons
Lunch
It's 15 minutes' walk into Aberfeldy: take the path and footbridge back to the main road, then follow it into town to the Three Lemons at 32 Dunkeld Street, a little before the Square. It serves lunch from noon, Wednesday to Saturday, with last orders at 2.30pm, and its lunch menu at the time of writing runs from soup and ciabatta sandwiches to fish and chips and wood-fired pizza, with a children's menu too. Ring 01887 820057 if you'd like a table for about 12.30pm, or 12.45pm after an 11am tour. If lunch runs late, drop the bridge rather than miss the 2.40pm bus. The Three Lemons is shut on Mondays and opens only in the evening on Tuesdays. On those days, or if it's full, the Aberfeldy Watermill's café on Mill Street, near the Square, serves soup, sandwiches and bigger plates until 4pm.
11 min on foot
Wade's Bridge
A landmark
It's 11 minutes' walk on through the Square to the river, where Wade's Bridge crosses the Tay on five stone arches. It was begun in 1733 to a design by William Adam, on the orders of General George Wade. At its town end, on Taybridge Drive, the Black Watch monument, a cairn topped by a Highlander in the regiment's early uniform, commemorates its first muster near the town in 1740. It's open ground: come in daylight. Then it's 10 minutes' walk back to the Chapel Street stop, by the Birks Cinema, for the 34A at 2.40pm, in Perth about 4.20pm. For a slower afternoon at the Watermill, the later 23 leaves Chapel Street at about 4.50pm on weekdays and 4.35pm on Saturdays, and from late October to early February it goes at dusk or after dark. A 23X at 3.45pm runs in the school holidays only. Check the times.
If it rains
The tour, lunch and the Watermill's bookshop and café are indoors. The walks between them, the bridge, the monument and the bus stops are not, so on a wet day give the bridge a few minutes and spend the rest of the afternoon among the Watermill's books before the later 23 from Chapel Street, which goes at dusk or after dark from late October to early February.
Places to stay near where the day starts and ends, and when each is next free.
Make it a weekend
More days out near Perth.
Photographs by Three Lemons and Duncan Macpherson via Google