Park

Out with the Ramblers for the final time this year and it was a relatively local walk around Airth and Dunmore. Despite having walked here several times, both with the group and also on my own, we visited somewhere I had never even been aware of until now - Dunmore Park (main picture, plus extras).

According to the 'Undiscovered Scotland'' website: although Dunmore Park refers to the estate in which sits the remarkable Pineapple, the name is "most commonly used to refer to the grand mansion that George Murray, the 5th Earl of Dunmore, commissioned from the architect William Wilkins and [was] built in the years between 1820 and 1825.The Murray family continued to live at Dunmore Park until 1911, and it remained in use as a private home until 1961. It was then taken over by a girls' school for a short time before being abandoned in 1964."

The mansion house has stables nearby and although built in a similarly grand style are also currently derelict.

We also visited the Pineapple and the 'model village' of Dunmore, built for the estate workers, as well as Airth itself, which was the start and end point for our walk. With impeccable timing we had just reached the cars and were changing out of our muddy boots when the rain started. Result!