Dewar's, the Watermill and the Crannog Centre – A Level Day
A day.
The route
A level day in Highland Perthshire for anyone with a wheelchair, a walking frame or a pushchair.
It starts among the casks at Dewar's, where the museum and the whisky lounge have full wheelchair access, and breaks for lunch in a bookshop café in Aberfeldy. The afternoon is on Loch Tay at the Scottish Crannog Centre, with ramps to its museum, café and shop.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is The House at Dun Aluinn, 6 miles away. Sleeps 18.
Book Dewar's Aberfeldy Distillery
Book Dewar's Aberfeldy Distillery's 30 Minute Tasting & Stories online before you go, for a morning slot (from £17 at the time of writing; drivers can choose sample bottles to take home), and ring 01887 822010 to ask about the tasting room's access.
Book the Scottish Crannog Centre
Book The Scottish Crannog Centre's tickets online for an afternoon visit before you go, in time for the last guided museum tour at 4pm: tickets can be moved to another date but not refunded.
The day
Aberfeldy
A morning with the Dewar family's story and a dram or two, then lunch among the bookshelves. The afternoon goes back to the Iron Age, at a loch-dwelling rebuilt on the shore of Loch Tay.
About five and a half hours
Dewar's Aberfeldy
An attraction
Dewar's Aberfeldy Distillery is on the eastern edge of Aberfeldy, off the A827. Turn in and drive up the hill: the main car park is on the right and the disabled parking on the left. It opens at 10am Monday to Saturday all year, and on Sundays from noon to 4pm from April to October; it's shut on Sundays from November to March. The Whisky Lounge with its café and shop, the Heritage Museum and the warehouse all have full wheelchair access, but the production rooms have stairs. So rather than the 90-minute Dewar's Aberfeldy Experience, book the 30 Minute Tasting & Stories, from £17 at the time of writing. It begins in the museum with the Dewar family's story and ends with a guided tasting of two drams, Dewar's Scotch and Aberfeldy single malt. Ring 01887 822010 to ask about the tasting room and for the full access statement. Drivers can have sample bottles to take home instead of the drams. Dogs on a short lead may come into the shop and parts of the lounge. For about a month each winter the distillery pauses for maintenance, when some areas may be shut, and it closes for a short spell over Christmas.
4 min by car
Aberfeldy Watermill Bookshop & Cafe
Lunch
Lunch is at the Watermill, a bookshop, gallery and café on Mill Street in the middle of Aberfeldy, 4 minutes' drive back into town; the free car parks at Moness Terrace and Chapel Street are close by. The café serves coffee, homemade cake and light lunches, with vegan dishes and seasonal specials, from 9am on weekdays and 10am at weekends until 5pm. The bookshop and café are wheelchair accessible (the gallery upstairs is not), and dogs are welcome inside and on the terrace. Over Christmas and New Year, check before going. If it's full, the Crannog Centre's café, up a ramp, serves food all day and is next on the road.
16 min by car
The Scottish Crannog Centre
An attraction
Drive 16 minutes west on the A827 to the Scottish Crannog Centre at Dalerb, on the north shore of Loch Tay just west of Kenmore, with parking on site. Site entry is from 10am to 6pm, and the last guided museum tour is at 4pm. A ticket is £16.50 for an adult and £11 for a child under 16 at the time of writing, with family tickets from £27.50. It includes a guided tour of the museum and its finds, then the crafts of the Iron Age village by the water. Most of the site is on one level, with ramps to the museum, the café, the shop and the toilets for wheelchairs and mobility scooters, and seats throughout. Ring 01887 440231 to ask whether the crannog itself, out over the water, suits a wheelchair. Dogs are welcome. Booked tickets can be moved to another day but not refunded. It posts no end to its season, so from November ring 01887 440231 before going.
If it rains
Dewar's museum and lounge, the Watermill and the Crannog Centre's museum and café are all under a roof; only the Iron Age village by the loch is out in the weather.
Where to stay
