Grandtully – a painted ceiling and a famous hot chocolate
A few hours.
The route
Grandtully is a small village on the Tay.
Up a farm road a couple of miles to the south-west, the plain little church of St Mary's hides a ceiling painted in the 1630s. Back on the main road, Iain Burnett's Highland Chocolatier makes award-winning truffles and a thick hot chocolate from melted truffle. It's a short morning out.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier
Book a table in the Highland Chocolatier's Chocolate Lounge online for about 11am to be sure of one; walk-ins are welcome when there's space.
The day
Grandtully
A short morning by the Tay: a painted ceiling in a hilltop church first, then a long sit over hot chocolate and cake down on the main road.
About an hour and a half
St Mary’s Grandtully
An attraction
St Mary's Church is up a signed farm road off the main road south-west of Grandtully, with a small parking area and a short walk to the door. From the outside it's a low, plain building, but inside, the wooden vault of the roof was painted around 1636 for William Stewart of Grandtully, with heraldry, his wife Agnes Moncreiff's monogram and little painted scenes, a deathbed among them. It's free, and open 10am to 4pm from October to March and 9.30am to 5.30pm from April to September; half an hour is plenty.
7 min by car
Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier
A drink
The Highland Chocolatier is 7 minutes' drive down, on the main road through Grandtully, with a car park behind the shop. Its hot chocolate is melted truffle, thick and served dark, white or marbled, and a guided tasting flight is the way to try its prize-winning truffles. Book a table in the Chocolate Lounge to be sure of one. It's open every day, 10am to 5pm, with last orders at 4.30pm, an hour earlier from 11 January to 12 March. Children are welcome, and only assistance dogs go inside.
If it rains
Both are under a roof: only the short walk from the church's parking area to its door is out in the rain.
Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier, a café in Grandtully.
Grandtully Hotel, a restaurant in Strathtay.
Photograph by Matthew Dye via Google