After a major refurbishment, the Queen’s View visitor centre a jewel in Perthshire’s tourism crown is again fit for royalty.
The vista has been a popular destination for tourists and locals since Victorian times, even enjoying a visit from the longest-serving monarch herself.
It boasts one of the most iconic panoramas in Scotland and, on a clear day, the views even extend as far as the mountains surrounding Glencoe on the west coast.
The attraction closed last January as part of a £1 million revamp by Forestry Commission Scotland.
It secured a cash injection from the Scottish Government as part of an upgrade of visitor facilities in Scotland’s national parks, historic properties and national collections.
In a bid to enhance the experience of the centre’s 150,000 annual visitors, the cafe and information point have swapped places.
More interpretation material has also been added to the centre to give visitors more information on the surrounding Highland Perthshire countryside.
Hamish Murray, part of the Tayside team at the Forestry Commission Scotland, revealed the Queen’s View has become incredibly popular with tourists.
He said: “It is one of Perthshire’s top attractions, with more and more visitors coming every year.
“With the refurbishment of the visitor centre, we’ve created a top-flight experience that can compete in the modern tourism sector something that will really give all our visitors that ‘wow’ factor experience.
“It’s modern, open, airy and light and a place people will want to come back to, time and again.
“Today’s visitors have high expectations and we have to meet those while hopefully going that little bit further to provide an even bigger draw for visitors to the area.”
As well as enjoying a complete internal refit, the exterior of the buildings have also been refreshed, while a large balcony area attached to the relocated cafe provides a new viewpoint overlooking Loch Tummel and the Allean Forest.
In anticipation of increased visitor numbers, the car and coach parking facilities have also been extended.
Mr Murray added: “It has been a sterling effort by all involved and we’ve delivered on time and on budget. I think when people see what the team has achieved, they will be completely bowled over.”
The centre at Queen’s View, said to have been named after Queen Victoria following her 1866 visit, will reopen at the end of May.
A RIGHT ROYAL TEMPER
Although the Queen’s View is commonly thought to be named after Queen Victoria, who took tea there in 1866, it is believed to commemorate Queen Isabella, wife of King Robert the Bruce, as she used the spot as a resting place on her travels more than 500 years earlier.
In a diary entry from October 3 1866, Queen Victoria does appear confused by the supposed tribute.
She wrote: “At the end of the loch, on a highish point called after me ‘The Queen’s View’ though I had not been there in 1844 we got out and took tea.
“But this was a long and unsuccessful business; the fire would not burn and the kettle would not boil.”
She went on to complain about how the impromptu stop-off made them “very late”.