Town in Perthshire, Scotland

Kinross

A queen escaped from an island prison here in 1568, and a rock festival later drew crowds of around 85,000 to a former airfield a few miles up the road.

Key information

County: Perthshire
Nation: Scotland
Known for: Loch Leven Castle, Kinross House, Loch Leven trout and the T in the Park festival years
Famous people: Sir William Bruce, Mary, Queen of Scots (as a prisoner), Willie Douglas

About Kinross

The queen who escaped across the water

In 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots was rowed out to a small island castle in Loch Leven and told to give up her throne. She signed her abdication there in July of that year, and for almost a year she was a prisoner on a rock in the middle of the loch. On 2 May 1568 she got out. The hero was Willie Douglas, a young member of the household, who helped her slip away and took her across the water by boat. Mary made it to the shore near Kinross and rode off to rally her supporters. The gamble failed. Her army was beaten at Langside only days later, and she fled to England and never saw Scotland again. Loch Leven Castle is now a ruin, and a small ferry still runs out to it from the shore at Kinross in the warmer months.

The architect who built a house to face a castle

Kinross House is one of Scotland's finest country houses, and it was designed to look at that island. Sir William Bruce, the royal architect who reworked the Palace of Holyroodhouse, began it in the 1680s as his own home. Bruce planned the whole estate as one picture. The formal gardens run down towards the loch, and the Fish Gate at the end of the main axis frames the view across the water to Loch Leven Castle. He lined up a modern house with a medieval prison on purpose. The house is a landmark of the Scottish Palladian style. It is a private home, but the gardens have a long record of opening to visitors.

A loch for geese, trout and bird-watchers

Loch Leven is one of the largest lowland lochs in Scotland, and a National Nature Reserve. In autumn and winter, tens of thousands of pink-footed geese arrive from Iceland and Greenland to roost on the water. At dusk and dawn they fly over Kinross in long, noisy lines. The loch is also famous among anglers for its brown trout, and the fishery has a reputation far beyond Scotland. The island of St Serf's was once home to a priory, where the chronicler Andrew of Wyntoun is said to have written his long history of Scotland. You can walk the Loch Leven Heritage Trail all the way around the shore, with the RSPB reserve at Vane Farm on the south side.

The tiny county with a big festival next door

Kinross-shire was one of the smallest counties in Scotland. Only Clackmannanshire was smaller. The town has a compact core around the old Tolbooth of 1771 and its market cross, and a long link with weaving and cloth making. Its position on the main road between Edinburgh and Perth has always made it a stopping place, and the M90 now passes right by it. From 1997 to 2014 the former RAF airfield at Balado, a few miles from Kinross, hosted T in the Park. It was one of Scotland's biggest music festivals, and every July the quiet town filled with tents, wristbands and people looking for a pint. The festival moved to Strathallan Castle in 2015.

Why people stop in Kinross

These days Kinross works as a base for the whole of Perthshire and Fife. The Lomond Hills rise to the south-east, and the Ochil Hills lie to the west. Perth, St Andrews and Edinburgh are all within easy reach. Local food leans on the loch and the farmland around it, including trout, beef, soft fruit and farm-shop produce. Walking, fishing and birdwatching keep the waterfront busy. The lochside is the town's best feature. A short walk from the main street brings you to a view that has barely changed since Mary, Queen of Scots looked at it from her island prison.