THERE is something comforting about being tucked up warm, with a belly full of food, while watching the last of the day's light disappear from the surrounding countryside.
Sitting in the Clachan Cottage Hotel's bar lets you do all those things with the added bonus of seeing the darkness envelop the waters of Loch Earn.
Having arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon, we wanted to stretch our legs. The children, five and three, had spotted a play park nearby and were keen to test it before dinner. That excursion in the fresh air, featuring swings, a chute and a see-saw, helped to work up our appetites and we decided to check out Clachan Cottage's food offering.
A selection of locally-sourced produce helps to liven up the menu while clever touches, such as a mini deep-frying handle basket to house the chips that went alongside my hearty venison burger, enhance things above the average pub grub. While that's perhaps because the slightly more formal Rowan Restaurant shares its menu with the bar, the food doesn't lose its impact in the more relaxed ambience. My wife's gluten-free dietary requirements were carefully taken care of with a salmon fillet and a selection of cooked greens while the children's portions, soup with crusty bread for my daughter and sausage and vegetables for my son, were generous without being ridiculously large. Somehow they both found space for a scoop of ice-cream.
A hum of chatter from other hotel guests along with a few locals in for an after-work pint and some well behaved dogs lolling about created a pleasant atmosphere as we watched the night close in on the loch.
We were housed in the largest of Clachan's family rooms, which offered plenty of space with a double bed plus three single beds round the corner. This allowed the children to be slightly partitioned off without them feeling too far away. The bathroom was also genuinely family sized with a standalone shower cubicle and bath.
The view across the loch in the morning light was spectacular with Edinample Castle clearly visible and mist rolling around the hills. It was a fine autumn day, so after a freshly-cooked breakfast, we visited the Auchingarrich Wildlife Centre near Comrie, which houses more than 50 types of animal. After climbing up a hill to look at a herd of deer, tartan-painted sheep and emus, we descended into the main body of the site.
There was a great variety of wildlife to observe as well as indoor and outdoor play areas - ranging from soft play and miniature golf to a flying fox and tractor riding - which were greatly enjoyed by our dynamic duo.
The chick and rabbit handling was also well received while the feeding of lemurs was a particular highlight as the comical-looking monkeys arrowed their paws through the bars of their compound and plucked food from little hands.
With the family ticket entrance fee leaving some change from £30, it certainly felt like good value when we eventually left around mid-afternoon.
We hadn't time to put Loch Earn's reputation for water sports to the test, but with its own jetty and slipway, the hotel probably sees its fair share of people who enjoy messing about on the water. However, I did manage to get out for a pedal on my bike to get a feel for what the area has to offer cyclists.
Just a short ride from the hotel is the Sustrans Route 7 cycle network. There is a fairly steep 500-metre climb to get onto the network from the village of Lochearnhead, then you are faced with a choice of further climbing to head towards Killin and Loch Tay or a more gentle amble tracking close to the A84 in the direction of Callander. Given the late afternoon smirr I opted for the gentler option and went for an enjoyable, and relatively easy, couple of miles along the route across a viaduct then through some beautiful forest before turning for home again.
The south side of the loch is a single-track road and would be a good challenge for even a moderately experienced cyclist with some decent climbing.
We only drove along it but the journey was rather nicely interrupted by a family of four deer, two of which spent a good few minutes on the road nonchalantly ignoring the car before performing a leap over a fence into the nearby caravan park.
Greig Cameron was a guest of The Clachan Cottage Hotel, Lochearnhead, Perthshire, FK19, 8PU. The family stayed in Room 18, which sleeps two adults and up to three children. It costs £125 per night for bed and breakfast.
www.clachancottagehotel.co.uk
Telephone: 01567 830247
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