Highland Safaris – Feed the Red Deer, Meet the Barn Owls
A few hours.
The route
Highland Safaris keeps a herd of red deer on the hillside at Dull, just west of Aberfeldy, and a pair of barn owls with them.
A ranger takes you into the deer park to feed the deer by hand, and the owls fly for you afterwards. It's a lovely, easy outing for children of any age, and for anyone who has only ever seen a red deer from a car.
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, 2 miles away. Sleeps 18.
Book the Red Deer and Barn Owl Experience at Highland Safaris online before you go: in spring, autumn and winter it runs once a day at 1pm (from 1 April 2027 at noon), £15 a person at the time of writing, under-3s free but still booked.
The day
Highland Safaris
Soup in the lodge café, then 45 minutes with a ranger among the red deer and the barn owls.
About two hoursAbout 0.5 miles on foot
Highland Safaris
Highland Safaris has its lodge at Dull, west of Aberfeldy, with a café, a gift shop and free parking, open every day from 9am to 5pm except 25 and 26 December and 1 January. The Red Deer and Barn Owl Experience lasts 45 minutes with one of the Safari Rangers. In the Red Deer Centre you can pick up and examine a collection of antlers, then you step out into the park to meet the herd and feed the deer by hand. Ossian and Tay, the two resident barn owls, then show off in a flying display, and children go home with a Highland Safaris badge. In spring, autumn and winter it runs once a day, at 1pm, with more sessions in summer, and from 1 April 2027 that once-a-day session is at noon. It's £15 a person at the time of writing and under-3s go free, but every place, a baby's too, must be booked ahead; arrive 15 minutes early. Dogs are welcome in the café, shop and grounds but can't come on the experience. Before or after, the café does homemade soup, sandwiches, scones and cakes, with vegetarian and vegan choices. Its kitchen takes last orders at 3.30pm from November to March and 4pm from April to October. There's accessible parking and toilets; ring 01887 820071 to talk through the deer park before booking.
If it rains
The experience runs in all weather unless it is unsafe; the Red Deer Centre and the café are under a roof, the deer park is not.
Where to stay
Photographs by Mo Buckland and Juan Jose Arroyo via Google