THE spectacular reds, oranges and yellows adorning Scotland’s hills during the mild autumn cannot fail to have impressed any visitors to our fair country. Even to my own native eye it was nice to glimpse the vibrant shades glinting in the sunlight rather than trying to peer at them through driving rain.

Perthshire does not lack for spectacular scenery and the Moness Resort, on the edge of Aberfeldy, is a good base from which to explore it.

The 35-acre site can trace its heritage back to the Flemying family, once the governors of Inverary Castle, in the 17th century.

The hotel that is there now is supposed to have been built as a hunting lodge for the family in 1785. Just a few years later it was sold to Lord Breadalbane for £9,600 and staying in his family until 1921.

It went through various incarnations, including being used for evacuated school children from Glasgow during the Second World War, but has been owned and operated by Moness Group since 1999 with a large portfolio of self-catering cottages also available.

We were staying in a two-bedroom courtyard cottages. The layout was upside down with the bedrooms and bathrooms, one en-suite, on the ground floor with a large open plan living room and kitchen upstairs.

Along with nice views out to the hills from the back windows everything was extremely clean and functional with a decent range of cutlery, utensils and pans to cook with.

Kudos to whoever installed the child gate at the top of the stair as without it our nine-month-old, who has recently discovered the ability to propel himself around on all fours but has yet to master the finer points of avoiding danger, would have been unable to explore the space as freely as he did for fear of a potentially nasty tumble.

On exploring the grounds it is clear the ducks at Moness are doing alright for themselves as their sheer numbers suggest a rather healthy colony. As if having a large pond wasn’t enough there appears to be a fairly steady stream of visitors all keen to feed them on a regular basis.

Certainly our oldest two children, six and four, were quite happy to spend quite a bit of time at the pond.

The swimming pool, located in the main hotel building, was a major plus with the decent sized facility catering for differing abilities. Our older duo were able to paddle around under their own steam while the baby enjoyed splashing about with the aid of a rubber ring.

One point to note would be the baby changing boards in the male and female changing rooms didn’t have a strap which made it difficult to keep our youngest in place while drying and dressing him.

There is also a small indoor soft play area, which is better suited towards the younger age spectrum but was again spotlessly clean, as well as an outdoor play park. The sports hall offered a wider range of activities from traditional games to a bouncy castle.

For anyone keen to get beyond the resort, the walk into Aberfeldy takes less than 10 minutes and is all downhill on the way in but a bit more of a test going back.

The town itself is packed full of independent retailers, art galleries, cafes and delicatessens showcasing a wide range of local produce from fruit and vegetables through to meats, beers and coffees.

Perhaps the most famous of the retail outlets is the Watermill, once named the best independent book shop in the UK.

It claims to stock around 5,000 titles and has a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction for people of all ages across its three levels.

Inevitably we spent a fair amount of time in the children’s nook with the staff happy to encourage casual browsing.

The café at the Waterfall is also worth a visit in its own right with locally sourced coffee and hand-baked goods.

The contemporary and vintage homewares retailer Homer is another part of the business where my wife managed to while away half-an-hour quite comfortably.

The revamped Birks Cinema in the centre of the town stands as something of a testament to the community spirit of the local population. Having closed as a cinema in 1982 then spent two decades as an amusement arcade the site had fallen into ruin.

A seven-year long campaign raised £1.3 million to restore the 1930s building to a working picture house.

The 100-seat venue appears to be thriving with a busy programme of blockbusters, art-house fare and special events. We caught a morning showing of Hotel Transylvania 2 with the picture and sound quality comparable to the offering you might expect in a multiplex.

If you want to venture further afield Aberfeldy is only a short drive from Loch Tay where you can explore how ancient loch dwellers lived at the Scottish Crannog Centre.

From there it isn’t far to see one of the oldest trees in the world, the Fortingall Yew.

In the other direction back towards the main A9 route it is also worth a visit to Iain Burnett, The Highland Chocolatier and his Scottish Chocolate Museum and café at Grandtully.

As well as learning a bit more about how and where Mr Burnett sources his ingredients you can actually watch him and his team at work in the kitchen.

The attached shop is something of a chocoholics delight. Our older kids both chose plastic moulds filled with chocolate drops. Back at home a session of melting and then rolling the liquid chocolate around the moulds followed. A spell in the fridge resulted in a chocolate dinosaur and pumpkin respectively.

On our journey home we were fortunate the weather remained temperate so decided to stop off at the Active Kids Adventure Park north of Perth.

This boasted a wide range of play activities from crazy golf and play tractors to a large fort and impressive slides.

The well laid out site provided a lot of fun for our children and the late autumn sunshine made sure the surrounding fields were a picturesque backdrop.

Greig Cameron and family were guests of the Moness Resort, Crieff Road, Aberfeldy www.moness.com

01887 822108

Five things to do around Aberfeldy

The Birks Cinema: The local community rallied round to fund the restoration of a modern cinema which also hosts live music events and has a café serving a lot more than popcorn and nachos. www.birkscinema.co.uk

The Watermill Bookshop and Café: Once named as the best independent book shop in the UK. It has titles to cover all tastes and a café too.

In the village of Grandtully is The Highland Chocolatier, where Iain Burnett and his team hand make a wide range of artisanal chocolates from the kitchen. You can watch them at work while also exploring the Scottish Chocolate Museum or testing some of the creations in the shop and café.

Fortingall Yew: Britain’s oldest tree, in the church yard in the village of Fortingall, has endured for thousands of years. But it appears to still be evolving as it recently started sprouting berries, surprising botanists who had always thought the tree to be male.

Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery: For whisky enthusiasts the visitor centre, tour and tasting lounge at this 19th century distillery should not be missed.