There’s an amazing local walking festival in Crieff in May.
The Drovers’ Tryst Walking Festival re-walks paths once used by cattle drovers.
In those days, our small Highland town was a thriving market, and annually tens of thousands of cattle were driven from the most northerly points of Scotland, across the hills, to converge here in Crieff.
Imagine the sight.
Imagine the smell.
The drovers were warily welcomed. There would be theft, fights and other liberties taken as Scotland’s outlaws arrived: to the point that bodies of executed drovers were strung up as a warning to behave.
Contemporary Crieff
These days, the town is one of many small, pretty Highland towns supporting tourism, commuters, and thousands of tiny businesses. We have an annual Highland Games, but otherwise a rhythm built around the seasons. If it weren’t for the statue of “the coos” at the end of the street, you’d never know its market history just by passing through.
The walking festival celebrates this history. Not just our famous ancestors (although Rob Roy was one of the drovers), but the story of the people and town, and its place in the surrounding landscape.
It’s easy to see the hills as spectacular scenery without thinking about how people once lived on them and off them — wrapping themselves in their plaid to sleep, naming every feature of the land in their own language. Try:
Bugha: a green bow-shaped area of moor grass or moss, formed by the winding of a stream.
or
Caochan: slender moor stream obscured by vegetation such that it is virtually hidden.
Many of us have accidentally stepped into a caochan, but few of us know it even has a word.
An invitation to Take a Walking Holiday in Scotland
The Drovers’ Tryst Walking Festival is an invitation to walk this land again — and the organisers make it easy to do. It’s run by a team of experienced walk leaders who plan routes, borrow minibuses, and make linear walks possible — the kind that are normally difficult to organise independently. The team have first-aid training, know how to orient themselves, and care deeply for the people they walk with. It’s a beautiful, thoughtful thing.
I really believe in it. I volunteer for the festival (media and newsletters).
I’m sharing this here because people from the UK and from abroad can attend this festival. Crieff is a friendly town, and visitors are very welcome. You don’t need to be part of any programme to take part — you can simply come, join the walks, and enjoy the experience.
Making English Memorable
Alongside this, I’ve also built a holiday around the festival.
It’s a hybrid holiday. You take part in the walking festival as a participant, not as an English learner — the walking days are not language-support days. You’re there to enjoy the walks, the landscape, and the shared experience like everyone else.
What’s different is that the festival sits inside a wider English experience.
The week is extended so that the walking days are held within a light, culture-led English programme. This gives you three days of festival walking, and three days of our trademark English experience: conversation-led workshops, shared meals, visits, and time spent exploring the community together.
English isn’t treated as a subject. It grows through being here — through socialising, moving, noticing, and taking part in life around you. The walking days stay real and independent. The English support happens before and after, giving space for confidence, reflection, and language to settle.
You can attend the festival without us — and many people do.
Or you can join it as part of a week designed to help English move from something you use when needed to something that feels lived, grounded, and your own.
We can support three people to get the most out of this walking festival — using it as a way to step into English with confidence.
If you’ve been dreaming of a walking holiday in Scotland but aren’t sure where to start, this is a thoughtful way in: joining a real local festival, with English support before and after, so you can enjoy the experience fully and let your English find strength in our hills.
→ Join the Drovers’ Tryst Festival Walking in Scotland, plus English Workshop.
Reference: Robert Macfarlane, Landmarks
History & Walking Guides
Further ways Blue Noun language hub shares history and historic culture
Discover how we use Scottish history to unlock your English.
Walking on our English language holidays
Walking is a central part of our English language holidays in Scotland, creating space for conversation, reflection, and shared experience.
If you’d like to understand how walking fits into our approach — from mixed abilities and local knowledge to why movement supports confident, real-world English — you can explore it in more detail here:
→ Walking in Scotland on our English language holidays