I sort of struggle to see how people could've given this place 4 stars. I suppose the gym is half…read moredecent, hence why I'm not giving it 1 star, but the pool is one of the most disgusting places you could ever find yourself. The Water Palace, which is a haven for groups of teenagers on a Friday night, has been in the same location in Hamilton for a good while. The Hamilton baths that existed before it was even in the same place, although they're now apartments. The main pool has been closed a handful of times, once or twice due to a disease outbreak in the water, and the other times due to general hygiene issues. If you can go for a swim in here and not find yourself gathering old plasters and bits of hair, then I congratulate you. Unless that's the sort of thing you would enjoy, I'd suggest staying away from here.

I had completely forgotten about the Water Palace until I spied the previous review - this place is…read moreawesome! I haven't been here since I was around 14 but I had some seriously good times here. I particularly enjoyed the outdoor pool and even when it was freezing I always ventured out for a swim. The flumes were pretty good too and I remember spinning off my rubber ring on more than a few ocassions. This place also has a gym attached, and you can cool off in the pool after a workout. Great place for families too as the flumes will keep the kids occupied while you have a few lengths of the "big pool".

The Palace Grounds is a huge park at the bottom of Hamilton that is attached by a wee tunnel to…read morestrathclyde country park, and is always overrun with dog walkers and their furry canine friends. I love this park because in the summer there's always picnickers and dog walkers and football players, and it's always loads of fun. There's also outside pitches in the park for various different sporting events, a bowls park, a swing park, and a massive indoor sporting centre for various different events of different sizes.

Strathclyde Park can either be awesome or depressing, depending of course on what you want from it;…read morequiet walking/exercise green space or amusement park holiday destination for kids. I like to go early mornings to walk the dog when it is quiet and you only have the odd jogger and the ducks in sight. I'm not sure the actual distance round the perimeter - 3 miles I think so not bad if you fancy getting a decent bit of exercise. The park also hosts Parkrun on a Saturday morning for semi-competitive folks. The boat house (loads of water sports options available) cafe is also a nice stop off point for a quick refreshment and there is plenty of green space as well as a small beach to chill out and eat some home packed grub. I tend to avoid school holidays and any time after midday as the park sits right next to M&Ds amusement park and can become a bit of a nedfest but to be honest I'm probably just being overly judgmental. Busy crowds just ain't my thing. Definitely deserving of four stars as it really is a lovely part of Scotland and a nice wee escape from the town-y environs of EK, Hamilton and Motherwell.

'Strathy Park'. It's…read morereally really nice and great for running or cycling around, especially during the summer months where this place really livens up with families having picnics, dads showing kiddies how to skip stones in the water and lots of littering from youths, just to keep everything in balance. There's some great swings and such for children and the childlike alike and it's on the site of M & D's which has a good indoor centre with arcade games, bowling and pool which can help make a day of coming here. The rides in the theme park themselves are a bit of a let down. Watch where you park your car at night, as there have been reports of 'doggers'!

A former hunting lodge for the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton and one of the few surviving buildings…read morefrom the Hamilton estate. I say surviving but it underwent a pretty massive restoration process to get to the condition it is in today. Inside the building is a small museum, a shop and a cafe. There are formal gardens, trying to replicate the gardens of the lodge when it was used. What keeps me coming back to Chatelherault is the grounds. The walks through the woods are beautiful, there are several different routes of varying lengths but if you haven't already been you need to walk up to the Cadow Oaks. This trio of oak trees are at least 600 years old, 1000 by some accounts and it is a really special place. The walk up there is lovely at any time of year, over gorges, rivers, past ruins and through amazing woodland. I would suggest wellies or something waterproof for your feet as it can get squelchy underfoot but there are good well maintained footpaths all the way and I think it's pretty well signposted.

Beautiful park so much to see and so much to do and so well kept. Had a great morning with son and…read moredog and footballs. Had a good walk played with the ball and spoke to other dog walkers. We then decided to go to the cafe for a wee snack. Son decided on soup - 2 choices went with the lentil and bacon with an added extra bread roll (u get one with soup) these were little poppy seed rolls that would have seriously injured someone if thrown - they did exchange them though but didn't remove the other hard ones from the top!!! Coffee was served in what I would consider a basin - who needs a gallon of coffee. If the coffee was good we would not require as much. Ended up leaving the coffee and the soup and the lentils were still hard - have given four stars as the park is amazing and hopefully they were just having a bad day.

This place has been in Motherwell since I was born. It's hard to imagine Motherwell without it…read more It used to be a swimming pool/ice rink combo with many a Sunday afternoon spent here skating when I was younger. The ice rink has since been done away with and replaced with a really good gym, probably the biggest and best in North Lanarkshire. The swimming pool is a fun pool, barely a metre deep and only good for splishy splashy times, not a proper swim. They have a good health suite with a sauna and steam room where, despite the signs about NOT shaving, there are always hairy old men shaving. The pool is rarely busy aside from summer time when kids under 16 can swim free when it is bedlam. The gym, as I said, is ace. There is at least two of everything so you are guaranteed to get a shot of whatever it is you are wanting to use, with some really modern equipment. The 'gym music' can be really loud which drowns out my own work out playlists much to my annoyance, but other than that, there isn't much to fault the place. A busy place.

The aquatec is actually a really well-equipped gym. The gym itself is in the same layout as the old…read moreice rink, and it works. I was a member here for a while, so let me explain, for a student it is only £15 a month and you can with that use any of the North Lanarkshire gyms. When you join you are given an induction with a personal trainer, who writes you a workout card to your specific needs and goals. You can use the gym at any time with a membership and get a place on any of the classes, spin, body pump, you name it, its free. You will need to book the week before though becasue they get filled up quite quick. If you do not want to to join as a member I think the original induction is around £8, and the n subsequent visits are maybe £3 something. So after a few visits you are better just becoming a member.

This is a great place in Motherwell, on the route of express buses from Buchanan Bus Station and…read moreround the corner from the main train station in Motherwell. It's got a soft kiddies play area (Ziggy's) a trampoline area (BounceZone) and an amazing lazer zone (Lazertag). I remember when the place opened me and a mate went in for a look and got a tour around the place when it was fully lit and they showed us the equipment. It was super cool. A regular Sunday afternoon booking followed for almost a year in a big squad where we would shoot each other up with silly avatar names. Sometimes we even hooked up our I-Pod to shoot each other up to our favourite tunes. Sneaking around in the dark with the Metal Gear Solid theme tune playing.. about the most fun I have ever had in my life. The lazer zone is really really good, probably the best one around, with 'Gems' kicking around which are computers on the wall that shoot you if you don't shoot them first and they give you special powers that give you an edge. They change the layout often enough to keep it interesting and there are a fair few game options. The prices are decent and the staff are friendly and up for a laugh. They do bookings and lock ins which is cool. The only annoyance for me is that they need to run through the equipment every single time which is a pain when you just want to start shooting people in the face! Good for kids.

Not one for the mindless shooting of people in the dark, i gave the laser quest in here a miss…read more However i do enjoy a soft play area, so Ziggy's was perfect. We took our nephew here when he was visiting and he loved it; three floors of netted in soft play, ball pools, ropes and slides. You can see everything the little terrors are up to in here, and run in to rescue them if need be. It is also really cheap, and perfect for a rainy afternoon where the kids would usually be causing havoc on the couch with crayons. I was too big to go in though (sadface)

Most rides are gone 2024 season made up for it with the 2 new thrill rides I thought it was good…read moreday out for kids

M & D's. There are…read moreworse places to spend your time, but it's not worth raving about. The actual rides are on a small scale and too few. The staff are also on the wrong side of 18 working for pennies and are as enthusiastic as you would expect. You also have to go over 11,000 speedbumps to get there. On a warm day, there is also a 70% chance of being robbed. The indoor complex is decent, with good bowling, a pool hall and loads of arcade games. They also have a really good crazy golf. It's in Strathclyde Country Park which, on a good day, helps alot. Worth going to, but it's nothing worth taking your camera for.