The charming, small villages of Dunning and Forteviot lie a few miles to the east of Auchterarder. Both boast long and fascinating histories.

Forteviot looks fairly modern with its fine 1920s estate buildings, but the village was once the seat of Kenneth MacAlpin, the first King of Scotland who united the Scots and the Picts in the 9th century. Indeed Forteviot can lay claim to being the first capital of Scotland.

Near the village once stood the famous Dupplin Cross an 8 feet high exam0ple of fine Pictish stonework said to have been erected by Kenneth MacAlpin to mark the union of the Scots and the Picts. Some years ago it was removed for conservation, and in 2002, it returned to sit in the safely of Dunning’s 12th century St Serfs Church, where it can be viewed in comfortable and protected surroundings.

A mile to the west of Dunning a slightly more modern memorial marks where Maggie Wall was burnt as a witch in 1657. Another burning is commemorated in Thorn Tree square. This is named after the Dunning Thorn that was planted to mark the Jacobite destruction of the village in 1716.

Today both Dunning and Forteviot are somewhat sleepy villages located in beautiful countryside.