Camsail Fine Art

You'll find Camsail Fine Art tucked away in Stirling, a proper working gallery that takes itself seriously without any of the pretension. It's the sort of place where the owner actually knows the artists and can talk you through the work - not some corporate space churning out prints for hotel lobbies.

The gallery focuses on contemporary Scottish art, and what's on the walls changes regularly. When we visited, there was a decent mix of painting and sculpture, all of it the kind of thing that makes you stop and actually look rather than shuffle through. The space itself is intimate - you're not trudging through endless rooms, which suits the work.

This is really for art enthusiasts rather than casual browsers. If you're the type who can spend twenty minutes staring at a single piece and having thoughts about it, you'll get something out of it. Kids will probably get bored within ten minutes, so this isn't a rainy-day family activity unless you've got teenagers who actually care about art.

Stirling's got enough going on - the castle, the old town - that Camsail works well as a stop-off rather than a destination in itself. If you're basing yourself at Witches Craig Caravan & Camping Park just down the road, it's worth an hour on an afternoon when the weather's iffy. Check opening times before you go though, as independent galleries can be a bit variable with their hours.