Falls of Bruar

Falls of Bruar is a series of cascades in a wooded gorge on Bruar Water, reached by a signed walk from the House of Bruar. The 2.5 km circuit takes about an hour. The approach to the lower falls follows smoother gravel with moderate gradients; continue around the loop only if you’re comfortable with steeper ground, rougher path and steps. You can visit the lower falls and turn back without doing the full circuit.

Start at the House of Bruar car park and follow the signed route under the railway. The path tracks upstream through pine and broadleaf woodland to a lower viewing platform, then climbs to stone bridges before returning on the other side of the gorge. The rougher, stepped section makes more sense uphill; save the easier path for the return. Keep children close near the steep gorge edges.

At the lower platform, look for the low rock arch over the river. Frame the arch with the first cascade from the platform, or use a bridge to look down the gorge. The falls are fuller after rain, though wet ground makes careful footing more important. A picnic seating area beyond the upper bridge looks over Bruar Water.

Robert Burns visited in 1787 and wrote a poem asking the 4th Duke of Atholl to plant trees around the then-bare gorge. The Duke went on to plant the woodland and build the path, viewing bridges and stone shelters. The walk’s wooded setting is part of a landscape deliberately shaped after Burns’s visit.

The falls combine two larger drops with smaller cascades, descending about 60 metres through the gorge. After glacial ice retreated, Bruar Water cut through layers of softer rock, leaving deep pools, outcrops and the natural arch. A hydroelectric scheme built upstream in the late 1940s reduced the water reaching the falls, so their flow varies; they are most impressive after heavy rain. Look into the pools and across the layered rock from the bridges, but stay back from the edges.