Follow in the footsteps of the many artists, writers and musicians inspired by this magical place over the centuries.

Taking in Brig o' Turk, Loch Katrine and Inversnaid, a series of book panels and windup sound stores along the Art and Literature Trail leads you to the spots many influential historical visitors visited, the scenes they painted and the views which inspired them. Click here to download a map of the Art and Literature Trail.

Art & Literature Trail Leaflet

Writers

Writers have drawn on the area’s beauty for hundreds of years starting from Gaelic writing to the present day. - but it was Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake (published in 1810), which brought fame for the Trossachs’ rugged beauty. His later historical novel Rob Roy drew further attention and the area became popular with literary tourists.

Novels and poems have been published by many- among them William Wordsworth (To a Highland Girl at Inversnaid), Gerard Manley Hopkins (Inversnaid), and Jules Verne (The Underground City). However, perhaps the best account of the Trossachs is given by Dorothy Wordsworth in her diary of her visit to Scotland.

Artists

Many artists have also been inspired by the area:

• John Millais painted the famous portrait of Ruskin in Brig o' Turk.
• Alexander Nasmyth, the father of Scottish landscape painting, painted 'Landscape Loch Katrine'. Inspired by studying Italian art, Nasmyth added a bit of artistic license to the view.
• Horatio McCulloch became the most successful landscape painter and aimed to paint the silence of the highlands where the wild deer roam. His painting 'Loch Katrine' celebrates the romantic scenery of the Trossachs and evokes a grand sense of scale and wilderness. He also painted 'Loch Achray- evening' and 'Loch Achray -morning'.
• Towards the end of the 19th Century, Brig o' Turk was a summer home for The Glasgow Boys- a group of young and rebellious artists who all had links to Glasgow. Internationally renowned throughout Europe and America, they painted with new dynamics, innovation and realism. They revolutionised Scottish art in the years between 1880 to 1910. Paintings from the Trossachs include, James Guthrie's 'A Funeral Service in the Highlands', and George Henry's 'Brig o' Turk'