Madderty Church

The churchyard at Madderty sits quietly off the beaten track, a couple of miles south of Perth, with little fanfare and fewer crowds than you'd expect for a place with such a long story to tell. The building itself is modest - a small stone kirk that's been rebuilt more than once over its 800-odd years - but it's the graveyard that really draws you in if you're into that sort of thing.

You get proper peace here. The kind where you can actually hear the wind in the trees and not much else. There's genuine old Perthshire history in the headstones, and the church itself, though not wildly impressive from the outside, has that solid, unpretentious charm that Scottish rural churches tend to do so well. It's worth a brief stop if you're exploring the area around Perth, though I wouldn't say plan your whole day around it.

If you're staying at one of the nearby parks - Luxury Hideaways is right on the doorstep just three miles away, or Broadslap Farm and Braidhaugh are both within a few miles - this is a pleasant twenty-minute walk or short drive to stretch your legs and get a feel for the older corners of Perthshire. Families with young kids might find it a bit quiet; history buffs and anyone who appreciates rural graveyards will probably spend a bit longer poking about. There's no visitor infrastructure to speak of, so it's very much a case of turning up and having a look. Best visited when the light's good and the grass isn't waterlogged.