Perth - Perth and Kinross - is full of history. Much of what the world knows about Scotland seems to have taken place in and around Perth, and the characters and events that the city and its surroundings knew are like a pageant of the nation's story.

Macbeth, Robert Bruce, Charles II, and Cromwell are all players in its story, which includes seven sieges, the theft of the Stone of Scone (Stone of Destiny), the clan battle on the North Inch, the murder of James I, the Ruthven Raid and the Gowrie Conspiracy.

When a French knight stormed Perth's walls at Robert Bruce's side, he thought the place 'a mean hamlet', but that was a long time ago, and nowadays the inhabitants tend to refer to it as 'The Fair City'. Its setting by the two road bridges over the swift flowing Tay is certainly fair, but the city itself, laid out on a grid pattern that might follow that of a Roman encampment, is better described as an attractive jumble of periods and styles. There is not much left of medieval Perth - only the town water mill, now a hotel, and the church of St John the Baptist.

Perth's green places include the walk up Kinnoul Hill to its folly tower and views over symmetrical crags and steep piled hanging woods to a rich landscape. Also there is the walk to the North and South Inches, and riverside meadows that border Perth itself. The North Inch has one of the finest sport centres in the country.

Scone Palace, five miles to the north of the town, is the home of the earl of Mansfield and a joy to visit. So too are its magnificently landscaped grounds. The mound near the house is Moot Hill, the heart of the Kingdom of Picts, and later the place where Scottish kings were crowned.