Drive-by Viewing (Balmanno Castle (Perthshire))

Member Name: MagdaDH

Product:	Balmanno Castle (Perthshire)
Date:	05/06/09 (28 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice 16th century castle in a picturesque location

Disadvantages: not open to visitors

Balmanno Castle is a 16th Century L-plan tower house built around 1570 for George Auchinleck. The house is situated near the village of Dron, about a mile away from Bridge of Earn, in the foothills of the Ochil Hills.

It was beautifully restored and furnished in 1915, but much of the furnishings were removed around the time of a sale after the WW2.

The presence of this castle in the dooyoo catalogue is a bit of a mystery to me as it's a residential building that is neither operating as a sight-seeing attraction nor offering any services. Such old houses of a castle type are dotted all around Scotland and there is nothing particularly special about this one.

Still, it's an attractive enough building in a pleasant location and if for some reason you really want to drive past it while driving from Fife to Perth/A9, you can do that by taking an unclassified road sign-posted for Dron off A912 just past the junction of A912 and A913. You can then follow on to Kintillo and Bridge of Earn and re-join the main road there instead of going back.

You can also take an even smaller, single track road left just before a small bridge (signposted to Balmanno castle) and then a private road (really a long drive) left again to get closer to the castle - when I did it in the name of research nobody raised an eyebrow (but I didn't get out and explored); and the blooming rhododendrons lining the drive were utterly magnificent

Dron is a pretty little hamlet nestled in the foothills of the Ochils, with a nice 19th century church but nothing really to stop the visitor. The views from Dron Hill down the whole of Strathearn are lovely.

Summary: what is it doing in dooyoo catalogue?