The Observatory, Pitlochry

16/04/2025

Incidentally, if anyone fancies a weekend between now and the middle of May, I am offering a fifteen per cent discount!

16/04/2025

Rami and Kirsty Cohen's bakery is the most welcome arrival in Pitlochry in quarter of a century, and sells more delicious bread than any I have found in Scotland . Open seven days a week, you can watch their fantastic loaves, cakes and pastries being baked right in front of you. It’s in Mill Lane – effectively behind Greggs on the main road, and in front of the Old Mill Inn.

26/10/2022

The garden has some new residents: http://observatorypitlochry.com/pitlochry/acrobatic-reds-colonise-observatory-garden/

07/04/2022

Glad tidings for guests who wish to tickle the ivories!

Pitlochry The new piano By admin April 7, 2022 April 7, 2022 I have received numerous enquires about the Observatory’s piano, an attractive, if clapped-out model that did several decades service in Pitlochry’s town hall. Alas, it is beyond repair. Recently, however, I have made good a long-held ...

23/02/2022

I have added some extra walks to the website – how it took me 20 years to discover the Cuilc and the Black Castle, I don't know, but now there is no reason for anyone else to miss out...

Walks/activities The ‘beach’ immediately beside The Observatory There is enough to do within five minutes walk of The Observatory to fill a week. In each case below, I have indicated the length of the initial walk, and the overall duration. Circumnavigating Loch Faskally Initial walk: none. Dura...

20/01/2021

For those of you who have missed the theatre, there is now an innovative online alternative. Dig out your tartan trews and your best baubles and join the virtual throng...

Sound Stage, a season of eight new audio plays, will enable audience members to connect with each other virtually

11/01/2021

An extraordinary letter to The Scotsman in 1936 paints a vivid picture of life in The Observatory when it was home to its builder.

George Forbes Forbes at home, a contemporary portrait By admin January 9, 2021 January 11, 2021 George Forbes at ease in his ‘Observatory’ – picture thought to have been taken by F Henderson in 1929 A fascinating accountof George Forbes at home in Pitlochry towards the end of his life emerges ...

21/12/2020

New carpet and a fresh lick of paint on the floor – the first steps in a planned program of renovating, updating and improving.

23/07/2020

A lovely piece making the case that Perthshire is Scotland's most alluring county...
http://observatorypitlochry.com/history/perthshire-the-fairest-portion-of-the-northern-kingdom/

05/05/2020

I have long been intrigued by the rangefinder that the Observatory's first owner, George Forbes, created early in the twentieth century. Some scouring of archives turned up a lot more of the story than I had known...
http://observatorypitlochry.com/history/george-forbes-rangefinder/

01/05/2020

A big cache of new information about Robert Watson-Watt (who lived at The Observatory in the 60s and 70s) has emerged. What a shame, however, that search engine optimisation has removed the need for punchy newspaper headlines. I would have been tempted by: 'BONKING BOFFIN LOVED TOO OFTEN'.

He is the Scot who helped win the war, a scientific pioneer whose trail-blazing radar devices heped down the Luftwaffe and defeat Hi**er.