Braemar gathering 2012

[Phil]

You are quite a distance from Braemar in Pitlochry. Closer caravan sites are at Ballater and Banchory but If you've already booked it's probably too late now. If it is the caravan site I am thinking of - Tom daChoille - the owner has the fishing on the Tummel there.
Braemar itself has very little apart from a couple of hotels that cater very much for the coach party trade but the Fife Arms there does a cheap & cheerful lunch. There is a small "tourist tat" centre there and that is about all.
Ballater is your next town and has a reasonable curry house in the square behind the church. There is also a carry-out chinese nearby. There is a chippy on the road across from the station square and in the station is a 'pretendy' train like Queen Victoria used to arrive in.
Going back to Pitlochry, the Tummel dam and fish ladder are worth a visit and if you head north a few mile is Blair Castle at Blair Atholl and nearby House of Bruar for an unforgettably expensive shopping experience. Heading a bit further south to Dunkeld & Birnam there is the historic cathedral and the Beatrix Potter place (she used to spend summers there apparently) and there is a good chippy in Dunkeld. The Royal Dunkeld hotel on the main street does a carvery.
All these places are pretty well 'one horse' towns but just a bit further south brings you to Perth which is more like a real town with all the major shops if the family is suffering from retail withdrawal symptoms.
I have no idea what the road from Pitlochry to Braemar is like but the Blairgowrie/Braemar road after Bridge of Cally is just one bend after another so allow plenty of time, particularly if you end up behind a caravan.