The Enchanted Forest

And why were we in Pitlochry in the first place? Well, for the perfectly delightful Enchanted Forest. And what is the Enchanted Forest you ask? Well, I'm not sure quite how to describe it. Something like a night time walk around a lit up loch, with tunes. Or a sound and light show. Or an art installation. Or good old fashioned outdoor amusement for children and adults alike. Once before Dr M and I drove up to the Isle of Skye for a night, had our dinner, donned head torches and climbed up the side of the Old Man of Storr to a corrie where a woman danced in the distance, music played and Gaelic poetry was read. It was marvellous! Since then the same production people have been running the Enchanted Forest every year so we decided to go and on a mild to cool november night round Loch Faskally we trotted.



The path was lit with a lighting chain to guide you. Here and there the trees were lit up too, and the boat house on stilts. At one end there were trancey tunes and a strobe light reminiscent of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Somewhere in the middle were spotlights swinging back and forward in clear plastic punchbags. The back and forward kick of the lights reminded me of bell ringers, and was punctuated by bursts of flames. My favourite was a set of illuminated water fountains that changed colour and were choreographed to hitchcock esque music - sometimes dramatic, sometimes tense. It had me in mind of those moments of passion in old films where the 'physical act' is replaced with erupting volcanos and waves crashing on to rocks. And had me grinning like an idiot.



We meant, Dr M and I, to go round twice but we took so long on first view that we ran out of time and were herded back to the last coach. Which was a shame. It had seemed like a good idea to go at the last time slot (915pm) so it was plenty dark (and we'd had our tea and a bottle of wine)( that's a different story). If I'd had the chance again I'd have gone earlier to linger longer. Word on the street is that the show changes from year to year (last year small children were traumatised by sudden, shocking apparitions) and so next year we must go again.