Dalnair Castle Estate and the Catterburn

A walk round Dalnair Castle Estate from Appletree Luxury Self-catering cottage Croftamie, Loch Lomond

The impressive and recently restored Dalnair Castle also known as Dalnair House

Walking from Appletree Cottage

A pleasant stroll from Appletree Cottage is to explore the grounds of Dalnair House also known as Dalnair Castle.  Turning right out of the gate a walk down our quiet back road takes you into the village of Croftamie.  Once down on the main road turn right again and walk along the pavement for about four minutes until you cross the bridge (currently reduced to single track) at the entrance to the village.  As soon as you're over this bridge turn hard right and walk between the two ancient red sandstone gateposts and down the path along to the banks of the Catterburn.

Bridge at southern entrance to Croftamie village

Red campion with some bluebells below.

​This walk mostly follows what used to be the route of the old service road for Dalnair House.  Built in the mid 1880s for prosperous Glasgow merchant Thomas Brown on the site of the smaller Endrickbank House.  With its own grand gatehouse in the Scottish Baronial Style, tennis courts, walled garden and long drive through parkland the occupants decided that a separate service road was required so deliveries etc. could be made out of site of the front of the house.  The delivery road remained in use until the late sixties when it fell into disrepair and became almost completely overgrown.  It is now a pleasant footpath along the banks of the Catterburn.
​Wild flowers line the path - in particular red campion, bluebells, speedwell and rhododendrons which have escaped the gardens around the castle.

Croftamie used to have a handful of water powered mills and one of the larger ones was a sawmill.  The site of this sawmill is visible by way of some overgrown flat ground to the left of the path between the path and the burn.  The site has been completely cleared however and almost no evidence of this ancient industry remains.

The path winds its way through the woods

​Here and there remnants of the former estate fencing - a post here and there, a short run of the characteristic cast iron posts and iron railings pop out of the ground now and again.  
The former road and access route have almost entirely been taken over by nature in the intervening years.
All the time the rushing waters of the Catterburn are never far away.
Salmon still come up the Catterburn to spawn but not nearly as far upstream as they used to in former years due in part to agricultural waste disposal in the last century.

A former post stands forlornly in the undergrowth.

The Catterburn running past on its way to join the Endrick Water

Wild bluebells

On the other side of the Catterburn was another water mill as well as some hunters cottages.  These small huts, similar to the ones found further down the road at Carbeth, were constructed during the Second World War by families from Clydebank and Yoker as escape from the bombs.  Unfortunately, nothing remains of the huts nowadays other than a few concrete foundations.  A mill race for the former mill can still be seen though.

Speedwell

After a pleasant walk we're out of the woods and into the open courtesy of an old iron gate.  The views are excellent.  To the north west we can follow the Endrick Water as it makes its way to Loch Lomond.  It passes under the former Forth and Clyde Junction Railway Bridge which is now used to carry a section of the water pipe way which runs from Loch Lomond to Edinburgh.  There is now a pedestrian and cycle bridge built over the pipe way and this forms part of both the Sustrans Cycle Route 7 (which runs from Sunderland in the north of England to Inverness in the Highlands) and the John Muir Way.

View of the Endrick Water passing under the former Forth and Clyde Junction Railway bridge

Walking south, along the route of the Endrick for a bit we have great views of Killearn in the distance.  Before the bridge at Drymen was constructed there were various ways to cross the Endrick.  One of these was a ferry at more or less the same place where the bridge is now.  Otherwise, fords were the order of the day.  Many of the fords have washed away but the old roadways leading up to them on either side can sometimes still be discerned either by ground levels or by lines of trees or both.

Looking southwest along the Endrick Water with Killearn in the distance.

Much of the valley floor through which the Endrick makes its way is sand - giving rise to high sand banks on either side of the water.  In one of these banks the holes made by Sand Martins are clearly obvious.

Holes in the sand bank are where the Sand Martins nest.

Gate is almost all that survives of the boundary fence at this point

After a bit of Endrick exploration, the route up to the castle and its gardens are across a rough grass field and through a small kissing gate.  In fact, the gate is nearly the only surviving piece of the perimeter fence at this point!

Azelea

From this gate it is a short walk through the rhododendron and azalea bushes up to the house, the southern aspect of which towers above the foliage.  Many of the bushes are in full bloom at this time of year with rich vibrant colours

Rhododendron

At Dalnair Castle

Dalnair Castle

The main entrance to Dalnair House / Castle

The restoration of the stone work has been highly successful and meticulously executed.  Built in the Scottish Baronial style of architecture, turrets and towers abound.  There are also some excellent gargoyles and decorations which unfortunately this phone camera was unable to pick out in detail.
The building is currently being converted into luxury flats and should prove popular as it is quite easily commutable from Glasgow. 
When built the views from Dalnair must have been tremendous on all sides.  Over the years however, as the gardens have matured, trees have grown up to mask certain aspects of the vista.
  

From the 1940s the building ceased to be a private residence and became accommodation for the nurses and medical staff who worked at the nearby and now derelict Killearn Hospital.  In the 1970s the castle became a conference centre for British Steel before becoming a nursing home.  After some years of lying derelict the building and grounds are being restored for the provision of new houses and flats.

Side wall of Dalnair House / Castle

Entrance to the tennis court

After a good look around the outside it was off down the drive.  Soon we came across the former tennis court.  it was in a bit of a sorry state, quite overgrown but with the net still in place.
Further down the drive still we came across the boundary wall of the walled garden.  A number of luxury houses are currently being constructed inside the walled garden.  
​Further down the drive still we decided to turn right up the hill and into the parkland.

Parkland at Dalnair House

This court has seen better days of service.

Our route across the parkland took us back to where we had come in - the former service entrance gates.  From there we walked back into the village and down to where the former Fourth and Clyde Junction Railway used to cross the main road.  The station house is still visible on the eastern side of the road.  From there we walked up the former railway track which is now a cycle and pedestrian walkway forming part of the John Muir Way.

Back to Appletree Cottage

John Muir Way cycle track and walk way on the former railway bed.

The former railway line forms an excellent short cut from Appletree Cottage to the village of Croftamie.  In the village the former famous Wayfarers Inn has undergone major refurbishment under its new owners.  It was to re-open in April as the But & Ben bistro but due to covid this has been delayed.  We are hoping that all is well and that the new owners will open with huge success when the pandemic is over.

Gorse / whin

Broom

On the railway path the gorse (known in Scotland as Whin) and the Broom are in full bloom.
In Autumn there is also a huge display of sloe berries which are popularly picked by locals for their home-made sloe gin.

Walking up the "main" single track road towards Appletree Cottage

At the top of the railway path, we join the back road leading to Appletree Cottage and Shandon Farm.  This road is quiet with occasional farm traffic making it an excellent route popular with walkers and cyclists.  There are good views across the landscape towards Stirling and Killearn giving a beautiful open aspect to living in and visiting this area.

Appletree Luxury Self Catering Cottage awaits its first guests since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic....