A family visit with younger kids to the Black Watch Castle and Museum in Perth. It is housed in Balhousie Castle in the northside of the city.

It was the third week of the school holidays and we were excited to recently have been invited to visit the iconic and beautiful Black Watch Castle and Museum in Perth, at Balhousie Castle. With it being during the school holidays, it worked perfectly on route for one of our visits to see family in nearby Dundee, only an hours drive from Edinburgh and with free parking.

You will find the castle and museum near the North Inch Golf Course and River Tay, only minutes’ drive from Perth city centre and easily accessible for both the M90, A9 and surrounding areas.

At the Castle you will find a museum with in-depth history of the Black Watch and many unique and unusual items, their popular Bistro and extensive gift shop. There has been some sort of dwelling on this spot since the 12th century, the current castle dates back to 1625, by 1850s had fallen into disrepair and was later renovated.

In July 2023 they became the temporary home of the Hauntings Sculpture, which will remain in place to visit until November 12^th 2023 (visit the hauntings). This sculpture was commissioned for the First World War centenary by a couple in Somerset and since then has been in various locations across the UK. The sculpture is made from more than 1,000 pieces of scrap metal, which makes for some interesting details and is fascinating to look at during a visit.

Outside the castle entrance you will find a kids climbing area and nearby, the bigger North Inch Playground, which all adds to the attractions for the younger ones when planning a day out and ticks all the boxes.

“It really is a bonnie castle”

We have always had a soft spot for Perthshire, so were delighted to once again be working with a local attraction to help raise the awareness of this wonderful region of Scotland. 

You can purchase family tickets for the museum for 2 adults and up to 4 kids, under 5’s are free, which gives you all day access. This works well if they are needing time to run off some steam in the local play parks or even if you visit other nearby attractions and return to the museum or Bistro.

It was Saturday morning and we set off from Edinburgh mid-morning, heading for Perth on route to Dundee.

We arrived about 11.30am and on entering the grounds of Balhousie Castle, you realise the sheer scale of the impressive Hauntings sculpture, which stands 6m tall outside the entrance.

‘The team offers a 5-minute talk every hour next to the Hauntings sculpture and you will learn more about the inspiration, but also the design and build of this impressive piece of artwork’

As we entered the museum, we met Fiona who is the Curator of the Museum. We started off with a quick tour of the museum to learn about the history of the Black Watch and what there was to see within the museum and exhibition. Fiona talked us through the stories, some more gruesome than others and some funny, see if you can spot the Black Watch solider lifting his kilt while in war to show more than you’d want to see! We walked through most of the 10 galleries and these tours would usually take an hour or more by their volunteers or their curator. The kids were not happy by the time we had to leave the museum and go for our lunch, they were having too much fun dressing up and playing with the Lego!

We had lunch booked in the Bistro for midday, I would recommend you book in advance too when visiting, with it being hugely popular for locals and visitors alike.

We settled in and the team brought our menus, which for kids includes a crossword on the back, and they received separate colouring in sheets, which proved popular. Wherever we visit and go out for lunch or dinners, the kids have an expectation that everyone will have thought about keeping them entertained, so it’s great when we find very personalised activities to the specific attractions.

The atmosphere within the Bistro was very relaxed and a nice bright space for lunch. Beside the restaurant you will find a nice conservatory, which after further questioning, I learned that you can in fact host private events and weddings within that space, here’s a link in case you’re looking for a local Perth venue!

Once we decided on our lunch, we ordered Snack platter and fruit shoot for the kids, and I was really pleased to find an open sandwich on the menu as this is rare to come across these, it was a Smoked salmon and Prawn Marie Rose and it was delicious. My wife ordered a spicy chorizo and potato hash, which looked amazing and according to her, tasted divine. The food arrived and we enjoyed our main meals. Once the plates were empty, which is always a good sign, we (well the kids) decided that we needed a sweet treat. The kids went for the Dark chocolate fudge sundae, and we enjoyed two of the days dessert specials, carrot cake and espresso chocolate brownie, well what a treat.

After lunch, it was time for the kids to show off their creative skills in one of their childrens arts classes. These are run on Thursdays throughout the summer and other times throughout the various school holidays, make sure to check online in advance or contact the museum directly. The space is also used for bespoke and private arts classes and other activities. At moment many of these sessions are inspired by The Hauntings, but they will also be relevant to the seasons and celebrations throughout the year.

After an entertaining half an hour, we picked up the Lego trail around the exhibition, this was to be another highlight for the kids (being Danish, I am slightly biased towards any use of Lego!). This was a great success and much credit to the team for incorporating this simple, yet fun and engaging activity for kids of all ages. It allowed the adults a bit of time to explore the museum and learn more about the fascinating history of the Black Watch across the globe.

“Who has the most fun, the kids or the adults!”

As you walk around the 10 galleries, you will also find various points where both kids and adults alike can dress up and great photo opportunities. One of the tasks I enjoyed seeing the kids do, was trying to put a puzzle back together, wearing gloves for restricted movement and glasses to give them impaired vision. These were both to simulate what it would have been like for the people in war and how they had to manage often with restricted movement of their hands if hurt in battle.

We spent about an hour walking through the museum and it was then time for the kids to head outside and play. There was another trail ‘Help the Hauntings’ around the grounds of the castle. Various signs of the pieces which makes up The Hauntings’ had been placed in the manicured gardens and it gave the kids a chance to walk around and find them.

After a search around the garden and grounds, it was then time to run off some more energy, not sure where they get it from, in the larger North Inch Play Park a few minutes from the Castle.

We finished our afternoon with visiting the gift shop to get presents for a couple of our daughters friends and the kids of course got a little toy too. For a local museum shop, this really is an extensive range of gifts, jewellery, local gins and clothing items that you will find for both kids and adults.

I managed to get a couple of coffees for the road and it was time for us to say our farewell to the team. It had been a pleasant surprise to find this somewhat hidden gem and wish we had come across it years ago.

You can plan your visit and learn more about their activities and events.

To learn more about The Hauntings and Hauntings events page The Hauntings Events.

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• Facebook – @BWMuseum
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All opinions and photos are my own, unless otherwise stated. When you next visit share your stories and photos with @museumbw – You can also follow me along on our adventures around Scotland and beyond on kimkjaerside on Twitter and Instagram