The major museums in Edinburgh and Glasgow have separate galleries that are larger than Scotland’s Crannog Centre.

But there are few places as fascinating as this family-friendly attraction on Loch Tay, a picturesque spot in Perthshire, about two hours’ drive north of Scotland’s two largest cities (and an hour from the city of Perth).

A fun and educational place, staffed by warm and friendly people who will take you on a journey back to the Iron Age, a long forgotten era when many Scots lived on stilts – artificial islands built mainly of wood and providing shelter from hostile tribes and the bears and wolves that roamed wild in the forests of Alba, as the nation is called in Scottish Gaelic.

It is believed that around 500 BC – “around 89 grandmas ago,” says Rich Hiden, the centre’s deputy director – some 17 crannog sites bordered this loch, the sixth largest in Scotland by area.

The centre recently reopened after a devastating fire in 2021 that burned the replica crannog rotunda to ashes. Reborn in a new, much more spacious location, the centre is close to the picture-perfect lakeside village of Kenmore, as well as the whisky town of Aberfeldy.

“The fire reinforced the fact that life is uncertain, but also how you can try to build resilience to uncertainty and vulnerability,” says Rachel Backshall, Rich’s co-director. “The people who lived in the crannogs faced hunger, disease, war, crop failures, but they tried to live as best they could.”

Explaining that the centre works closely with local charities that support vulnerable young people, victims of domestic violence and abuse, people with mental health problems and refugees, Rachel shows us around the centre’s small museum, which displays carbon-dated artifacts recovered from the shores of this and other Scottish lochs surrounded by kelp ridges.

“We found pottery, leather, textiles and other objects dating back 2,500 years,” says Rachel, pointing out a wooden foot plough, a vessel with crumbs of dried butter, broken pieces of pottery with human fingerprints and even hazelnuts with possible mouse bite marks.

Outside the centre, which includes a café and bookshop, work is underway to build three new replica cranes that will protrude from the lake and be accessible via wooden platforms.

Already built, on dry land, are a few stone and wooden huts carved by carpenters, stonemasons and thatchers, creating a sort of Iron Age settlement. Inside the huts, interpreters in period costume explain ancient crafts and customs to visitors. In one dwelling, by a crackling fire, we learn about food, foraging and seasonality, and are given a taste of parsnip and garlic flatbread.

Another hut, filled with belt hooks, knives and coat pins, has a red-hot forge where a blacksmith crafts tools for use on site. Entering another dwelling, decorated with woven baskets and jewellery, we hear about Iron Age fashions and how people dyed their clothes with natural dyes extracted from plants and berries.

The shows change with the season. Rich, the center’s assistant director, says visitors can also take part in storytelling sessions, traditional music performances, trail walks and walks through the woods overlooking this beautiful lake, as well as boat tours (the dock for these cruises is a 20-minute drive west of the center).

Drifting across the loch, you’ll be able to spot a very different kind of property – a luxurious hillside mansion rumoured to have been purchased by Ed Sheeran. The singer is known to love the area and paid tribute to it in his 2023 song The Hills Of Aberfeldy.

+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Scotland. They had no influence or view of this story.

Tickets for the Scottish Crannog Centre include a guided tour and interactive displays. Admission costs £15 ($29) for adults, £12.50 ($24) for concessions and £10 ($19) for children. Family tickets are also available. See crannog.co.uk + For more information on exploring Scotland, see visitscotland.com