Address Atholl Country Life Museum, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH18 5SP, Scotland, UK
Telephone: 01796 481232
Website: http://www.athollcountrylifemuseum.org/
Deep in the heart of Highland Perthshire, lying sheltered by the hills of Atholl, is the village of Blair Atholl, where the meeting of the rivers Tilt and Garry have witnessed so much of life over the centuries. Here in the Atholl Country Life Museum, once the village school, you are able to capture that life of the past and learn about the great characters of the area, their skills and achievements, not only in the community but far beyond.
There is Scotland’s only stuffed Highland cow, Trinafour Post Office reconstructed, a local roadman’s home-made contraption that he used to paint the first white lines on his beat near the Queen’s View. There are many stories of local personalities, such as Sgt. Major Donald MacBeath of the Atholl Highlanders, gamekeeper, hero of the Crimean war and admired by Queen Victoria.
This unique and lively museum gives an atmosphere of vivid reality to country life and the social history of the Atholl people using detailed facts, historical photos and stories set in a wide range of imaginative displays.
Opened in 1981 after the building was closed as a school in 1974, it became a home to a unique gathering of artefacts, photographs and information on the social history of the area, some collected by a local farmer who attended this school and whose family have been in Atholl since early 1700. Many of the characters portrayed were his friends and acquaintances.
Other local people have given generously of their time and talents and the collection has been much enhanced by donations of artefacts and photographs. The lease of the building was kindly granted by the late Duke of Atholl.
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