Dupplin Cross

Not a great weather forecast today, so decided on a shopping trip to get a few things for the bedroom. Going on past performances it would seem unlikely we'd actually achieve our goal of curtains, bedside lights & a light shade. Mrs L did a bit of homework on the net and found some curtains she liked at Tillicoultry.

Tillicoultry has a lot going for it nestling at the foot of the Ochil Hills it also houses the large retail outlet, Sterling Furniture, and the adjacent Sterling Mills shopping centre. I'd recommend the Ochils, but even though we eventually succeeded in getting everything we were after I'd be happy not to repeat the shopping experience. I do realise I'm probably in the minority there.

Heading back to Perth we decided to go up the M90 as opposed to the scenic route we'd come by only to find that we couldn't access the M90 because of T in the Park at Balado, Kinross, so we therefore found ourselves another scenic route - which got us to the village of Dunning, where I noticed an interesting looking church tower, pulled the car over and said to Mrs L, let's have a wee blip walk - all this preamble is purely to show how randomly we arrived here.

As we entered the gates of St Serf's Church we were enthusiastically greeted "Do you want to see round the church?" This was the Historic Scotland warden who proceeded to tell us that although the church itself is interesting, built around 1200, it's what's inside that people travel from all over the world particularly to see. We then had a good quarter of an hour of him telling us the history and the significance of the Dupplin Cross. We certainly have an interest in "historical stuff", but no more than that, so some of his academic references and arguments were completely lost on us, but when you are face to face with someone who obviously has such a depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for a subject you can't help but be impressed. Even our tale of how we came to be there didn't dampen his enthusiasm. So if you fancy seeing a "very old cross" or meeting a "very interesting character", get yourself along to St Serf's Church & Dupplin Cross, Dunning.

This page on Historic Scotland's website gives all the facts, but misses out on the enthusiasm.