The village is well known for featuring in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. You can visit Dunsinane Hill, to the south-east of the village, where the ancient Birnam Oak stands as the sole survivor of an attack by Malcolm III on Macbeth.
Birnam is linked to Dunkeld by a seven-arched bridge built by Thomas Telford. The village is surrounded by lovely Perthshire countryside, especially the Hermitage, a beautiful wooded gorge. The area inspired Beatrix Potter, who spent her childhood holidays here. She is celebrated in the Birnam Institute’s Beatrix Potter Exhibition & Garden.