Castle Kennedy Gardens – Two Lochs, a Ruin and the Bird Hides
A few hours.
The route
Castle Kennedy Gardens spread over 75 acres between two lochs just east of Stranraer, with long avenues, the ruin of the old castle and a pair of bird hides looking out over the water.
Children can hire binoculars, look for herons, grebes and the resident greylag geese, and run between the trees, and there's a tea room for when legs give out. It's a lovely, easy morning for a family, with grandparents and the dog welcome too.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Castle Kennedy
A wander between two lochs, quiet minutes in a bird hide, and cake in the tea room at the end.
About two and a half hours
Castle Kennedy Gardens
The gardens are signed from the A75 in Castle Kennedy village, with shaded parking beside the entrance. They open every day from 1 April to 1 November, 10am to 5pm, and may close in extreme wind. Tickets are £10 for adults and £8 for over-60s and students, children aged 10 and under go free, and a family ticket for two adults and up to three children is £24, at the time of writing. They're sold online or at the gift shop, and it's card or phone only. One hide sits on the shore of the White Loch, the other on the Black Loch opposite the Heron Isle; binoculars can be hired at the gift shop. Watch for the greylag geese, herons, grebes and oystercatchers, and if you're lucky a kingfisher, an otter or a red squirrel at the feeding boxes. The old castle is a roofless ruin, and Lochinch Castle, the family's home, is not open. Dogs are welcome on leads. The ranger runs activities for children through the season, and the school holidays bring trails, a Halloween one among them: see the gardens' social media for this year's. The tea room keeps the gardens' hours.
If it rains
The hides and the tea room give shelter, but most of the morning is outdoors on garden paths; on a wet day keep to the avenues near the entrance and finish in the tea room.
Photographs by Magda L and Phil Sayers via Google