LEGEND has it that Princess Victoria, the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria, spent a night within the whitewashed walls of the Atholl Arms in Dunkeld.

A suite at the 183-year-old year-old hotel is dedicated to the royal visitor and is already taken.

However, guests staying in any of the 17 bedrooms can expect to dine like the daughter of a monarch. But more of that later.

The hotel is a welcome sight at the start of Dunkeld's main street after a less than relaxing start to our trip, standing for half the train journey on the evening rail service from Glasgow Queen Street.

The trip is followed by just under a mile's walk in dark and drizzly weather from the railway station, Birnham and Dunkeld.

However, a very cheery welcome awaits us at the hotel's reception desk, and we are immediately taken to our room and told that it's not too late to grab a bite to to eat at the establishment's less formal restaurant, The Meeting Place.

The hotel has recently been refurbished, with muted tones, a splash of tartan and an open fire in the main sitting room, styled like a country house.

Owners Neil and Christine Sinclair added a garden terrace in the Spring, which affords views to Thomas Telford's famous five-arched bridge. Meals, snacks, tea and drinks are served there during the day and the hotel will even comply with evening requests.

The terrace was recently named as one of three finalists in the Scottish Licensed Trade News Awards.

Our room occupies a prime position, overlooking the Tay, the longest river in Scotland. It's both cosy and spacious but it's after 8pm and we are famished so we dump our bags and head downstairs for dinner. The bar is busy with guests and a few locals enjoying an end-of-the-week pint.

The menu offers a good selection of bar meals with around five specials and I'm delighted to see the choice for options for vegetarians (or pescatarians like myself) – no sign of the standard goat's cheese tart here. There is a baked lentil loaf with parsley mash, steamed vegetables and garlic cream sauce.

I opt for the vegetarian haggis with neeps, tatties and a sauce and it's delicious. The right size to satisfy and whet your appetite for more. My friend can't resist the garlic mushrooms on the specials board which sit on a crisp crostini.

We both choose haddock and chips for our main, mine battered, hers breaded, and both gigantic. I have to return my plate with half the fish uneaten, apologising to the host because it's I simply can't finish it and she acknowledges that "it's a big fish".

It's well worth the £10.95, accompanied by chunky chips and peas. Sadly we have no room for pudding but I resolve to work up a bigger appetite for tomorrow's evening meal (I've already decided it will be the sticky toffee pudding), for which we intend to dine in the more formal restaurant of the hotel.

After a very comfortable sleep, we head downstairs for breakfast, which is served until 9.45am. Guests can opt for muesli and cereals and/or a cooked breakfast, which includes the choice of kippers.

Again, it's nice to see the owners serve vegetarian sausage. It doesn't seem like much of a stretch to keep a pack in the freezer for non-carnivore diners but too few B&B and hotels offer the option.

The service is really exceptional. The waiting staff are attentive, without being overbearing, and everything is delivered quickly. Good service can make the difference between a good stay and a truly relaxing stay. I've stayed in five-star hotels in Scotland that are completely let down by the waiting staff.

After breakfast we decide to enjoy some of the beautiful autumnal sights of Dunkeld and Birnham. Sadly it's not the crisp frosty weather you would hope for to enjoy the fall colours but as they say, there's no such thing as bad weather if you are dressed for it.

Our first stop is Dunkeld Cathedral, less than a mile away, which dates from the 14th century and is situated in the most glorious surroundings.

We take a walk along the Birnham path, keen to see the oak that is cited in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Thought to be around 900 years old, there is a little hollow you can climb inside and we take shelter from the driving rain. My friend swears she can feel the energy from trees. This one has quite a gentle energy, she says, which is perhaps not surprising considering how long it has been standing.

After an hour's walk along the river, it's time to dry off and warm up with coffee and cake. We take a walk along the main street and stop at Palmerston's cafe, seduced by the home baking and filled tables.

I choose a pear and chocolate scone, accompanied by homemade blackcurrant and lavender jam. It's a match made in heaven. Alternative bites of pear and melted chocolate are complemented by the subtle aroma of lavender in the jam. My friend enjoys a slice of gingerbread, which she says to akin to her granny's, the highest praise for a cafe-bought cake.

We return to the hotel to relax with the daily papers and my only criticism is that the lounge could be a little warmer.

Later that evening we dine in the more formal, Riverview Restaurant.

The room is perhaps more suited to breakfast; it feels like it could be a little more luxurious for an evening meal, particularly given the standard of food on offer – among the nicest I've tasted in a hotel and certainly deserving of the recent Scottish Hotels award. However, it's a small point and doesn't detract from what's on our plates.

I am seduced by the Dunkeld smoked salmon with capers, beetroot and creme fraiche on crostini and polish off every flavoursome morsel. My friend enjoys the meaty pate with crostini.

For main, I've chosen the salmon, risotto, with jumbo prawns: it's well worth the £16.95 price tag. Again, the service is exemplary and there is no danger of having to ask for anything twice.

We manage to squeeze in a pudding and I'm not disappointed by the sticky toffee: it's moreish and substantial and criminally, I have to send some of it back.

Caroline Wilson was a guest of the Atholl Arms Hotel. Rooms start at £89 for a double but the hotel recommends checking the website - www.athollarms.co.uk - for the best rates and offers.

Five woodland facts about Birnam and Dunkeld

The name Dunkeld derives from the Gaelic for "the fort in the wood".

The Birnam Oak is one of two surviving trees of the great forest that once covered the banks and hillsides of the River Tay (the other is the Birnam Sycamore). This forest is mentioned in Shakespeare's Macbeth, when the Three Witches prophesied: "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until/Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/ Shall come against him."

Birnam town originated from the Victorian era with the coming of the railway in 1856.

Today, Tay Forest Park offers "a wonderfully varied patchwork of forests across the most scenic parts of Highland Perthshire, featuring some of the country’s best loved viewpoints and tallest trees". http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/forest-parks/tay-forest-park

Some of the tallest trees in Scotland can be seen at National Trust For Scotland property The Hermitage. Covering 33 acres, the historic woodland was created in the 18th centyr by the 3rd Duke of Atholl, who is said to have used a canon to scatter the tree seeds on to the more inaccessible parts of the land. http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/Hermitage/