A Weekend at Enchanted Forest and Loch Tay

Knowing we would be entering the excellent Enchanted Forest with great joy, we got on the road to hit Scotland. We stopped on the way to visit the kids’ great-grandma in Glasgow, then set off to Loch Tay Highland Lodges holiday park, where we would have our short stay over the weekend. I have never been to this part of Scotland before, so my curiosity is rising!

road driving

Sat Nav gave an estimated travel time of 1 hour and 40 minutes from Glasgow. It was quite a pleasant journey, apart from the never-ending rain (as you can see from the picture). Most of the trips travel on single-lane roads—typical tall Scottish trees alongside the road. The closer we get, the more we see Scottish mountains in the distance. I almost feel we will enter the wood fairyland in the end!
Kids are well-behaved, watching iPad and listening to music, which adds even more indulgence to adults’ admiration of the Scottish scenery. There are some parts of our journey we saw massive open land and not a scene of residence; this made me wonder how much population is in this part of the world?! When we did pass a few towns before reaching the Highland Holiday site, many stylish houses jumped out the scene —- this got me to realize this area is of great interest to holiday property investors!

Almost right on time, we got to our accommodation, and the road sign was easy to spot. The wooden pointing-roofed wigwam lodge looks so cool in the dawn! Not until walking inside, we realized how trendy and modern this little holiday lodge is:

Living area

living area

Wooden dining table and four chairs, washing sink, a fridge, microwave, cooking utensils, bowls, and plates, even washing up liquid!
Bedding area

A double bed with a bare mattress and sofa bed that can be turned into a small double bed. (This can fit two adults and two kids easily.) At the back of the double bed, there’s a little window opening up to the back scenery, more trees were on the scene, and nature was so close!
Bathroom

I opened the bathroom, and I couldn’t help myself ‘wow’ – a modern walk-in shower and towel rail, then a simple and CLEAN toilet and sink with a makeup mirror with the wooden framed design coordinate the rest of the lodge.
Considering we are only expecting a camping place, I’m so amazed at the facility provided in this little tiny holiday wigwam. Not to mention the outside area, there is also a BBQ fire pitch, a good-sized wooden table, and two well-carved wooden chairs, making it a complete outdoor camping set! No need to get a fire started!

family at beach side

The following day we went on an adventure around the holiday park. Go further down; we could get to the lake called Tay – which in the Scottish language, they call lake as ‘Loch’ (bring your tongue positioned right!) This Loch Tay lies across the Kilin area and extends further north closer to Sterling of Scotland.
Kids gathered at Loch Tay front; even with the cold October wind, they fearlessly dipped into the lake for a bit of holiday taste! There are many wild ducks in this area, some swimming in the lake, others following the tourists wishing to get some feeds – imagine chasing them and seeing them flying away is one game kids enjoy doing!

Many bigger lodges are around here, with a Bistro nearby, indicating that these accommodations entertain quite a luxury tourist group! Further exploring reveals waterfalls hidden in the mountain just behind our wigwam; it is impossible for us to explore further. Still, the sound and scenery make it a perfect experience of being in the woods and close to nature! I almost instantly wish I could stay here longer to see and hear the waterfall hidden in the woods!

water stream in jungle

The exciting moment eventually came, time for us to step into the Enchanted Forest!
Pitlochry is a reasonably small town, but Enchanted Forest almost triple boosted the town’s tourist population; the routine is well structured by scheduled coaches transfer, effectively preventing the car parking problem. The coach transfer was allocated with your ticket purchase, and the staff on duty guided you to wait at the assembly area until the coach arrived. No time delay for us; adults and kids all got on the coach happily. The on-coach instruction has given detailed tips about what and how to get around the Forest and safety advice, etc., not without some Scottish sense of humor!
Entering the Enchanted Forest immediately affects me – the wood, the light, and what lies beyond… I was almost sure I was in an Enchanted land and ready to discover more. Kids were not very confident at the start, owing to the darkness and uncertainty, but soon they joined the fun with music, light, bridge, trees, and swans swimming in the laminated lake. What a fantastic experience in Scotland!!! Apart from feeling the wind and cold, I almost forgot about the time and the space we were in at the moment, just following the flow of people, listening to music to interpret the story in the lighting, crossing another bridge, and looking over the other side, more lights floating down from the hills and almost extend to the lake…

ambient picture

Ending the tour is almost unforgivable as to not seeking out the wood faires and returning home for nothing! But at least the kids were having great fun and were pretty tired from all-day activities. So we got on the scheduled coach and returned to our wigwam lodge.
Exhausted, I went quickly to bed with Alex, my 3-year-old son, who was also really tired and couldn’t wait for a bed. But the exciting daddy and my 9-year-old daughter Victoria, the fun continued as fire logs were at stand-by, fire pitch must be tested! So they did, and sadly I only got a picture as enjoyment…

kid bonfire

little girl and fatherThe unforgettable Enchanted Forest and Loch Tay wigwam experience!

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