Greenan Castle – Rock Pools, Sand and Milkshakes
A few hours.
The route
Just south of Ayr, the sands at Doonfoot run along to Greenan Castle, a ruined tower on a crag above the beach, with rock pools to poke about in below it.
It's an easy, happy morning for young children, finished with lunch and a milkshake at the Coo Shed, a family café on a dairy farm a short drive inland.
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 Talli House, 23 miles away. Sleeps 4; next free Fri 30 Oct to Sun 1 Nov.
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The day
Greenan
A morning of sand, rock pools and a castle on a crag, and a farm café for lunch. Bring wellies or old trainers for the pools.
About three hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
Greenan Castle
An attraction
Park in the Greenan Road car park at Doonfoot, right beside the shore. The signs there show how long you can park, and there are no toilets, so use the Coo Shed's later. Follow the short path down to the sand and walk along the beach towards the castle, about half a mile, which takes small legs a while. Greenan Castle is a 16th-century tower on a crag of black rock. Below it are flat rocks and pools full of tiny crabs, shells and seaweed, the best bit of the morning for little ones, and there's good sand for digging on the way. The tower is closed off because its stonework is unstable, so see it from below and keep children well back from the edge of the crag. A high tide covers the rocks below the castle, so check the tide times and come while the tide is going out. The sand is no place for a pushchair.
13 min by car
The Coo Shed
Lunch
Then it's 13 minutes' drive inland to the Coo Shed on South Corton Farm for lunch, a family café where the milk in the coffee and the milkshakes comes from the farm's own dairy cows. It serves breakfasts, lunches and homemade cakes, with picnic tables outside, and the milkshakes are the favourite. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 4.30pm, with hot food until 4pm, and is shut on Mondays. Children are welcome, and its toilets are the ones to use after the beach.
If it rains
On a wet morning keep the beach short and go on to the Coo Shed early, where it's warm and dry inside. For a whole wet day, the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine is all under a roof.
The Coo Shed, a restaurant in Ayr.