The Beatrix Potter™ Garden Trail

Enter an enchanting natural world where Beatrix Potter’s stories come to life. Discover delightful character sculptures, crafted benches and hidden surprises - part of the Beatrix Potter™ Perthshire Experience at Birnam Arts.

WHAT TO EXPECT 

The Beatrix Potter™ Garden Trail welcomes you into a beautifully landscaped world of discovery, where characterful sculptures, carved details, surprise installations and thoughtful interpretation are set among mature trees, flowering shrubs and rich greenery.

As you explore, each stop along the path reveals a new layer of story - connecting the landscapes and people of Highland Perthshire with the life, work and imagination of Beatrix Potter.

You’ll discover much-loved characters such as Jeremy Fisher perched on his lily pad, Peter Rabbit sharing a picnic with Jemima Puddle-Duck, and many more hidden scenes waiting to be found.

The main Garden Trail is accessible for wheelchairs and buggies. The Mr. McGregor Garden, which holds the children's play area and planting area, is up a steep, wood-chipped path, not currently accessible for wheelchairs.

FOR CHILDREN

Children can use their accompanying Activity Book to help find Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle’s lost laundry and solve clues, before enjoying time in our new learning and play area - complete with mushroom seats, slate sketch boards, a mud kitchen, a tic-tac-toe game and more.

By solving the final puzzle of the activity book, children will earn a stamp and sticker in our gift shop!

The book encourages observation, imagination and discovery - helping young visitors engage more deeply with both the landscape and Beatrix Potter’s stories.

This trail is perfect for children aged 3-12, but big kids and adults will love it too!

HIGHLIGHTS

• Carved sculptures of beloved characters inspired by Beatrix Potter’s stories
• Carved benches including an engagement bench
• Selfie Board with Benjamin Bunny
• Beautiful landscaped planting, seasonal colour and mature woodland spaces
• A free-to-access outdoor trail open year-round
• Accompanying Activity Book which brings the trail to life
• Accompanying Adult Guide which gives more detail on Potter's connection to Dunkeld & Birnam

ADMISSION

Admission to the Beatrix Potter™ Perthshire Experience - which incorporates both the Garden Trail and the indoor Beatrix Potter™ Exhibition - can be purchased in the Gift Shop for just £5 per person. This admission price includes an Activity Book for kids or a Guide Book for adults. Children 4 and under, and carers, do not pay admission, only for a guide book or activity book if they want one.

Visitors who buy admission tickets will receive a Return Visitor card, enabling them to access the Exhibition for the rest of the year for just £2 per person.

For those only wanting to visit the Garden Trail, Children's Activity Books, which provide the full trail experience, can be purchased for £3 in the gift shop. Adult guides, which provide a fascinating self-guided tour round the building and grounds, can also be purchased for £3.

The Beatrix Potter™ Garden is a public space, open 24/7 year-round and with no charge to enter.

HOW TO BUY

Admission tickets and Activity and Guide Books can be purchased in the Birnam Arts Gift Shop. The Gift Shop is located through the main doors of Birnam Arts, through the cafe and down the accessible ramp to the shop. From the shop, people with no mobility requirements can enter the garden directly through a door and down some wooden steps to the garden. The Garden Trail starts at interpretation panel number one, on the corner of the main road.

The accessible entrance to the garden can be found back through the glass door of the cafe, down to the main road and in through the corner entrance.

GARDEN HISTORY

In 1992, a team of architects, planners and contractors from Perth and Kinross Council worked with a local steering group to turn the land next to Birnam Arts into a landscaped garden inspired by Beatrix Potter. The design included accessible footpaths, clay pavers, benches, grassy areas, a stone-walled garden, a pavilion, numerous established birch trees, flowering shrubs and other planting. It also featured a dry pond for drainage that made a perfect place for a certain frog named Jeremy.

Original bronze animal sculptures (still forming part of the Garden Trail), were crafted and installed by Scottish sculptor David Annand, a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, reflect the raw wildlife that fascinated Beatrix Potter. An alert fox, a hedgehog in hiding and five playful hares all blend discretely into the natural setting. Annand’s intricate bespoke archway adorns one of the garden entrances.

THE NEW TRAIL

In 2026, the trail was reimagined and enhanced by Brilliant Trails, with support from the Scottish Government Place Based Investment Fund, Perth and Kinross Council’s Community Environment Challenge Fund. A special sculpture of Jemima Puddle-Duck by Fanny Lam Christie was also commissioned by The Ironmongers’ Company.

The Beatrix Potter™ Perthshire Experience is delivered through a licensed partnership with Penguin Ventures on behalf of Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd (an imprint of Penguin Random House Children’s UK and owner of the Peter Rabbit™ brand).