What a gorgeous day for lunch looking out across the loch. Home made soup, sandwiches and delicious…read morecakes .... Just like Gran used to bake. Avoid sunny Sunday's as the car park is heaving! Well worth waiting in the queue

The James Hamilton Heritage Park is set in a fairly rural location on the outskirts of East…read moreKilbride. Its main feature is the man-made lake (1.2km round the perimeter for all you joggers) with a water sports activity centre; sailing, canoe-ing etc. There is also a cafe bar with regular educational activities taking place for children of all ages. The park also has two children's play areas and a small shoreline for feeding the ducks and swans. It is also ideally located if you want to park your car and take the bike up the country road, which runs up behind the park and takes you out somewhere on the long EK road down to Cathkin/Cambuslang. My only criticism is that some folk walking their dogs do not abide by the rules of picking up their pooch's poo and although notices are up, I'm not sure the rules are enforced too often either. Only a minor complaint though and bins are provided for the more responsible dog owners. Definitely worth a visit on your summer holidays. Plenty of grassy space too if you want to take a picnic (providing the sun comes out)!

Palacerigg Country Park is a lovely place to bring young people! I work with children and have…read morebrought some of them there occasionally! Invarioubly they ask to visit this park again! You take the cut off for Cumbernauld when you are heading out of Airdrie on the Stirling Road. Turn right and then first left down through the little hamlet of Luggiebank (I just love that name!). At 1st roundabout turn right and then right again at the second roundabout where you will see the sign for Palacerigg Country Park (right turn just about 100yds from r.a.). It is not very large but is a pretty setting with lots of lovely trees and foliage and this is home to some georgious animals and birds. Two beautiful black swans with red bills sail about serenely in the little lake. You will see pigs (one giant one), goats proudly showing off enviable (if you're a man that is!) goatees, rabbits, hares, ferrets, peacocks, peahens, Zebedee a sacred Asian cow and Eddie the donkey who sadly has a condition that makes him a bit wobbly on his legs! There are any number of lovely animals who look genuinely happy to be there! I have a bit of a thing about animals being kept in captivity but these little creatures do look at home unlike magnificent cheetas, lions, pumas, elephant, giraffes and others of the mighty animal kingdom who appear to be miserable (understandably) and stagnating in badly run zoos and so called safari parks. There is no charge to enjoy this contact with nature, which is not far from the city of Glasgow. Parking is free with sufficient space and the little park hosts a cafe and toilet facilities, of course. A lovely place, particularly for young children or just to have a bit of space in a pleasant little haven for yourself.

This is the best place to go at Easter as it is full of baby chicks and other animals that you can…read moreget up close to. The kids will love being able to actually interact with the animals rather than just looking at them via a cage, and it will defo bring out the big kid in you

Loch Lomond Shores is a small shopping complex mainly aimed at tourists so you will find an…read moreoverload of tartan and shortbread on offer here. There's a few stores including; -Jenners -Catherine Kinloch -Misty Glen -Edinburgh Woollen Mill -Thorntons -Julien Graves ...So it's not the kind of place you could go on a shopping spree but it caters for tourists and is a pleasant place to browse. In addition to the shopping centre there's also a Sea Life Centre and if you're looking for some activities then you can hop on the loch for a spot of canoeing or paddle boating. Like Gavin, I find it a little odd that there's a complete lack of place to eat apart from a small cafe attached onto Jenners and a restaurant with the worst looking menu I've ever seen.

Ugh, I clearly made an error in planning to launch my exploration of Loch Lomond from this site…read more It's a tourist-choked amusement park. Besides restaurants and an aquarium (to which I'll give a pass), they have paddleboats and a "retail crescent." They do offer some legitimate services for exploring the park, such as kayak and mountain-bike rentals. On the upside, the park service has a large visitor center here which serves as a gateway to Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. What I really wanted to do was hike around the vicinity above the lake, since I didn't have time enough in my day to climb Ben Lomond. I got plenty of pamphlets and then got the hell out to drive up the west side of the lake towards Luss.

This beautiful park is a huge favourite with director Danny Boyle with scenes from "Shallow Grave"…read moreand "Trainspotting" filmed here. For me, Rouken Glen is also very special, it's where I used to feed the ducks when I was little, I learned how to ride my Bluebird bike here, I enjoyed eating ice-creams here with my family in summer and making a wish by throwing pennies into the waterfall with my dad. Rouken Glen is a beautiful park and there is so much to do here, especially if you have a young family. If you're a nature lover then it's great to come here for a walk and listen to the birds tweeting. When I came here last summer I was glad to see that it's still as popular as ever, we even took the paddle boats out and I enjoyed being captain for the day as G-Bot is useless at rowing. I also took a lot of flyers from the park rangers office, that encouraged people to be more environmental and bring out the hippie in you. This year I plan to take part in some of the activities in these flyers, such as going on an ancient tree hunt, joining the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, taking part in National Insect Week by going on a bug hunt, who knows I might even find Bugtropolis. What better place to do all of these things than at Rouken Glen? If all that nature tires you out then there's a little cafe beside the pond to sit and recharge your batteries.

Rouken Glen is a lovely park and it's right on my doorstep! For the first few months of living…read morehere, I hadn't paid it a visit... but then the sun came out, and off we went with our sandwiches and newspapers. I really like the boating pond and the waterfall in the park - these are my two "must visit" places whenever we visit. Around this time last year, I visited here on a foraging expedition with Whole Foods in Giffnock and managed to collect masses of wild garlic in the area near the vet (entrance off Rouken Glen Road). Even on a sunny, summers day this park never really feels overly crowded and I put that down to the wide, open green spaces with nothing but grass and trees. I think that's what makes me love this park so much - it's not overdone. It's fab for a Saturday picnic reading the papers, as well as bike riding and possibly also roller skating (yet to try that one!). For the kids there's a skate park and playground. The garden centre nearby is also really lovely to pop into to go to the cafe. I know there was some controversy about the cafe near the boating pond, so I'm not 100% sure if that's still open. My favourite thing about this park though is that a scene from Trainspotting was filmed here. I'm still trying to work out the exact spot!

Fantastic park with a wonderful natural feel to it. There are lots of things to do here - from…read morewalking and cycling to horse riding and even archery! There are various places to shop and eat within the park, from the smart Garden House Restaurant to the more relaxed Stables Tearoom. There is also a lovely gift shop as well as a craft shop with local artists and craftsmen's products for sale. For the children, there is a panto on again this year.

Beautiful country park just outside Glasgow.Plenty of opportunity for picnics , rambling, etc and a…read moregreat place for dog walkers.The park itself has lots of activities which can be accessed by visiting the web site at http://www.mugdock-country-park.org.uk . I took the audio tour , available from the shops located at the stables found it both informative and entertaining. Well worth a visit P.sThere is a cefe in the courtyard which also does good lunches

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.

Great park to watch and pet Highland Cows (hairy coos). And not crowded. Yay…read more Came here during a Cruise. From Greenock Cruise Terminal you only have to take 2 trains: Greenock to Glasgow Central, then transfer to train that goes to Pollokshaws West. Costs about 10 pounds (taxi costs 60). There is a nice, free museum there. Restrooms and cafe are very modern and super clean. There is a tram that takes you around the park, and even stops at the train station. Kids loved this park. Very open and not busy.

Clean park with highland cows that you can pet. Small walk to the Burrell collection. A great way…read moreto spend the day in Glasgow.

Luss Pier is located in the beautiful village of Luss in Scotland. The pier is not much in and of…read moreitself. It is a cool spot to view Loch Lomond and surrounding mountains. On your way to pier, you walk through the pretty village of Luss. Make sure to check out the shops, charming church, and the quaint stone cottage homes along your walk to the pier. From the pier, you can catch cruise and waterbus services which explore the islands of Loch Lomond. There is also a long beach to stroll along. Just a cool place to visit for a couple hours or the entire day. Want to explore more? Plenty of hiking trails abound nearby Luss Pier. Enjoy!!

Luss is an incredibly pretty village. Came here in 2016 for a daytrip. Liked it so much that we…read morereturned for four nights this time. Right in the middle of the village. Besides the beautiful village there's the Loch Lomond. A wonderful lake, great on sunny days but even more atmospheric on cloudy or even rainy days. And here from the Pier you get a great view. On the right there's a small Promenade with a bunch of benches and to the left there the beach with some BBQ spots close to the carpark. It's a pretty small village. Takes a few minutes to get from one end to the other. And still I can't get enough of it. If you do, think about taking a Loch Cruise. Several boats depart from here. Round Trips or One-way trips. Prices are really fair and it's a really nice thing to do. On sunny or rainy days. Or just grab some food at the Village shop and sit down at the pier area or on the beach to fully enjoy the spectacular views. Be sure to pay at the carpark. It's very strict here. And even it's packed with visitors (well, we're part of it), it's easy to see why. It's just a really pretty village with an amazing Loch location.