Things To Do
Leisure facilities.
The nearest place for a swim or the gym is Balfron Campus. Facilities include 25m pool, a well equipped gym, badminton courts, indoor tennis court, five aside football and Astroturf. During the summer there are often sports programmes for children. We will have leaflets in the cottage with details as we have them. Alternatively phone 01360 440940 for details.
Scottish Woollen Mill.
In Aberfoyle and offers good Scottish shopping and a reasonable café. There are often exhibitions, usually relating to farm practice/sheep dogs/farm animals, which are put on the children. Phone to find out details, 01877 382
David Marshall Lodge.
This is a great way to spend three or four hours. There is a visitor’s centre with information on what you can see in the local forests. Also several well marked walks that can be enjoyed by all the family. There is children’s play area, local woodcarver and friendly café.
Cycling and Walking
There are hundreds of miles of forest tracks that can be accessed simply by walking out of the door of the cottage. There is an OS map of the area, please feel free to take this with you on your trip. There are also some leaflets of other walks that start nearby.
Where to eat?
The area has at least one pub in each village, all of which serve reasonable quality food at reasonable prices. Our favourites are;
Gartmore, the Black Bull, see leaflets in the cottage with special offers.
Drymen, The Clachan, probably the best food around, but a little more expensive than most. Also the Pottery is a great place for simple food served either in the pub upstairs or in the café downstairs. Probably the best place for lunch for miles around. The Winnock Hotel is also good, but usually full of SAGA tours.
Aberfoyle, the Forth Inn has the best reputation. On the left hand side of the road as you travel towards Kinlochard.
Golf
There are two nine hole courses you can play on. There is an 18 hole course at Aberfoyle (01877 382493) which costs £15 for a round. There is also a course at Strathendrick, just the other side of Drymen (660695). This is nine hole and costs £10 for nine holes and £14 for 18. Both courses are busy at the weekend, but midweek games are usually possible.
There is also a local private course in Buchanan Castle Estate. This is a good quality 18 hole course. You need to a member of a club or hold a handicap (so long as you know what you are doing) It costs £34 per round. Phone 660330 for details.
There are of course many more very famous golf courses within easy reach. The two most famous are Loch Lomond and Gleneagles.
The first is VERY difficult to even get close to, although you are welcome to try. It is situated just this side of Luss on the west side of Loch Lomond, and only 25 minutes drive away. Only recently created by Tom Weiscoff and host to the now famous Scottish open championships. This event is used in the build up to the British open and is always the week before. Phone number is 01436 65555. You can only get in or onto the grounds if you are WITH a member. It costs £80,000 per year and a round WITH a member is £175.
Gleneagles is very much open to the public, phone 0800 704705. It costs £110 per round, pre-booking essential. It is also worth a visit to the hotel (01764 662231) for lunch (or even a cup of tea). Remember, prices reflect that this hotel is designed with the rich and famous in mind.
If you fancy a great meal, Andrew Fairlie is one of the finest restaurants anywhere in Scotland. He used to be the chef at One Devonshire Gardens (before Gordon Ramsay took it over) and now has a restaurant within Gleneagles, although it is separate business. A meal will cost around £60 table d’hote, plus drink, but it is fantastic.
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