Colzium and Banton Loch – A Walled Garden and a Battlefield
A few hours.
The route
Colzium-Lennox Estate, at the east end of Kilsyth, is a free country park with a walled garden, a wooded glen and an ice house of about 1680.
A path leads on from it to Banton Loch, where a cairn on the shore marks the Battle of Kilsyth of 1645. Then it's a short drive to the Swan in Banton, the first community-owned pub in Scotland, for lunch.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Moment Blythswood Street, 13 miles away. Sleeps 2.
Book lunch at The Swan, Banton
Book a table at the Swan in Banton on its own site or on 01236 897575, especially for Sunday lunch, and ask then whether the kitchen is serving lunch that day.
The day
Colzium
It's an easy morning of gardens, old woods and water on the edge of Kilsyth, with a walk out to a battlefield and lunch in a pub its own village saved.
About three and a half hoursAbout 1.5 miles on foot
Colzium-Lennox Estate
An attraction
Colzium-Lennox Estate is a free country park at the east end of Kilsyth. Drive in by the signposted stone gateway off Stirling Road, the A803, at the 30mph limit, and park in the free car park, which has disabled spaces. Start among the shrubs and trees of the walled garden. Beside it, the visitor centre in the old Clock Theatre has a café with terrace seats over the garden, open every day from 10.30am to 3pm, an accessible toilet and displays on the estate's history. Then the glen nature trail climbs through the woods beside the Colzium Burn, past an ice house of about 1680, restored and open to look into, towards Granny's Mutch, a little domed stone shelter at the top of the glen. Turn back whenever suits. The excavated remains of a fifteenth-century tower house are near the house, and the estate's curling pond is said to be one of the oldest in the world. Some of the paths are steep. Dogs are welcome, and there's an adventure playground for children.
About 15 min on foot
Banton Loch
From the car park a path runs east through the estate to the western end of Banton Loch, then along its south shore on the Mill Path, said to have been the mill workers' way to Banton. It's 1.1 km, or about a quarter of an hour, to the cairn. The loch is a reservoir, raised in the eighteenth century to feed the Forth and Clyde Canal. The round stone cairn on its south side marks the Battle of Kilsyth, fought on 15 August 1645. The Royalists of the Marquis of Montrose routed the Covenanter army of General William Baillie on ground near the loch, though the exact spot is debated. The story goes that when the canal was dug, troopers' bodies were found, one still seated on his horse. The path can be muddy after rain, and it runs right beside the water, so keep small children and dogs close. Come back the same way to the car.
7 min by car
The Swan, Banton
Lunch
It's 7 minutes' drive to the Swan, at the crossroads in Banton; park on the street beside it. Its village bought it in 2017, the first community-owned pub in Scotland. There's a main menu, a children's menu and Sunday lunch, dogs are welcome, and the entrance, seats and toilet are step-free. Opening days and times vary in the week, so ring 01236 897575 before going to check it's open and serving lunch. If it's full, try the Boathouse at Auchinstarry Marina, 10 minutes' drive away past Kilsyth.
If it rains
On a wet morning, keep to the walled garden and the visitor centre beside it, which has the café and displays on the estate's history under a roof, and leave the Mill Path for a dry day: it gets muddy. Then drive straight to the Swan.
Where to stay
Photographs by Conner Regan, Grant Mcneil, Mandy Lourie and Marcela Mclellan via Google