No damp proofer listed in Birnam yet.

A damp proofer diagnoses and treats damp problems in buildings - rising damp, penetrating damp and condensation - using chemical injection, tanking, waterproof membranes and ventilation solutions.

Many older Scottish properties, particularly stone-built ones, suffer from damp issues that worsen if left untreated, leading to damaged plaster, timber rot and unhealthy living conditions.

Be cautious of firms that diagnose rising damp everywhere - get an independent survey first, as the cause is often condensation or penetrating damp, which requires a different and often cheaper solution.

Birnam is a small village on the south bank of the Tay, directly across the river from Dunkeld and connected to it by Telford's bridge.

It is famous as the Birnam Wood of Shakespeare's Macbeth and the Birnam Oak - reputedly the last survivor of that ancient forest - still stands in the village.

The Beatrix Potter Garden and exhibition centre in Birnam celebrates the author's connection with the area, where she spent childhood holidays and drew early inspiration for her illustrations.

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Perth and Kinross is a large council area in the heart of Scotland, stretching from the lowland farmland of Strathearn and the Carse of Gowrie in the south to the remote Cairngorm peaks and Highland glens of Atholl and Rannoch in the north.

Perth - the 'Fair City' - is the administrative centre and largest settlement, a compact and handsome city at the tidal limit of the River Tay that served as Scotland's capital in the medieval period and retains a civic confidence well beyond its size.

The area divides naturally into Highland and Lowland: south of the Highland Boundary Fault lie the fertile straths and market towns of Strathearn, Kinross-shire and the Carse; north of it, the landscape rises steeply into the Grampians, with Pitlochry, Aberfeldy and Blair Atholl strung along the great routes into the Highlands.

Kinross-shire, historically a separate county, sits in the south-east around Loch Leven - a nationally important nature reserve and the setting for one of Scotland's most dramatic episodes of royal captivity - and retains a distinct local identity within the wider council area.

Transport links converge on Perth, where the M90, A9 and main rail lines from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Inverness meet, making the city one of the best-connected in Scotland - though the more remote Highland communities depend on the A9 trunk road and its long-awaited dualling programme.