Photographs and map of Gartmore House and Estate near Aberfoyle in The Trossachs Region of Scotland

This is a delightful walk from Aberfoyle to Gartmore village via the River Forth and the Gartmore Estate. It is three miles each way.
Leave Aberfoyle from the main car park beside the Scottish Woollen Centre along the cycle path to Gartmore. The path is wide with a good tarmac surface. It goes south between the main road into Aberfoyle from the A81 and the River Forth.
This used to be the railway line that linked Aberfoyle to the south but it was closed in the Beeching cuts of the early 1960s.
The path passes through light woodland; every now and then the meanderings of the River Forth bring it into view.
The sun was shining and the river reﬂected the light from its tumbling waters.
You will pass the back of the Rob Roy Motel at the junction of the Aberfoyle access road and the A81. After about a mile and three quarters you reach the minor road from the A81 to Gartmore village. Turn right, over an old stone bridge and after 100 yards pass a pink-walled bungalow on the left. A further 60 yards on you will see a sign ‘Butler's Walk" on the left for a path which takes you through delightful beech woods to the drive to Gartmore House. The junction point of path and drive is close to a cottage on the opposite side of the drive; note this for your return.
Turn up the drive and pause from time to time to look south across the valley to the Gargunnock Hills and the Campsie Fells whose steep lava cliffs illustrate their volcanic origin. At one point the cliffs seem to form an amphitheatre created from an extinct volcano. Look east and on a clear day you can make out the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle.
ln the midst of the valley called the Carse of Stirling is the ﬂat expanse of Flanders Moss, the last remnant of a wide area of very deep peat bog which was removed to make way for agriculture. Walk right up the drive until you arrive at a large group of buildings, the largest and most impressive of which is Gartmore House, a huge 18th Century country manor. Turn right just before the buildings and 50 yards further on bear left following the main drive to the grand entrance arch to the estate.
At this point turn sharp right along the estate's surrounding wall for about 60 yards and there you will ﬁnd the memorial to Robert Cunninghame Graham. He was one of the outstanding Scots of the second half of the 19th century and the ﬁrst half of the 20th century. Traveller, writer and Scottish Nationalist he lived an incredibly varied career. His socialist and nationalist politics would still be regarded as bold and revolutionary and are worthy of a separate article because the causes he stood for are still relevant to modern day Scotland.
Descend from the memorial into Gartmore village with its attractive main street. Retrace the route back to Aberfoyle to complete an easy, pleasant walk.

The Trossachs

Gartmore House Gallery

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