Haddo Country Park – Playgrounds, a Fairy Wood and the Ducks
A few hours.
The route
Haddo Country Park is the old parkland of Haddo House near Tarves, and it's a lovely place to spend a morning with young children.
There are two playgrounds, a fairy wood, a duck pond and miles of easy paths under the old trees, and lunch is at Mrs Smith's, the café inside the park.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Haddo
It's a park full of old trees and places to play, out in the farmland north of Aberdeen. Let the children loose in the playgrounds and the fairy wood, say hello to the ducks, then sit down to lunch in the café.
About three hoursAbout 1.5 miles on foot
Haddo House
An attraction
From Tarves, follow the brown signs for Haddo House, which bring you in from the Raxton crossroads just north of the village. Sat-navs can send you up private drives, so trust the signs. Park in the country park's pay-and-display car park, paying at the machines by cash or card; National Trust for Scotland members park free with their card on show. Haddo Country Park is open every day. For children there are two playgrounds, the bigger a popular adventure playground, along with a fairy wood, a sensory garden, a duck pond and miles of paths under the old trees. Toilets, accessible ones included, are in the National Trust's courtyard near the car park and in the Pheasantry. Dogs must be on a short lead or under close control in the park, and there's a fenced off-lead area for them next to the car park. The house itself keeps its own season, open only for guided tours from Friday to Monday between mid-January and 21 December, booked on 01651 851440; it isn't part of this morning.
4 min on foot
Mrs Smith's at Haddo
Lunch
Lunch is a 4-minute walk from the car park at Mrs Smith's, the café and gift shop inside the country park, with light lunches, home baking and a warm welcome for dogs. It opens every day except Thursday, from 10am to 5pm, and from 10.30am at weekends; ring 01651 851815 before a winter visit, and over Christmas and New Year check before going. On a Thursday, or if it's full, the National Trust's courtyard café by the car park opens from Thursday to Monday, 10am to 4pm, until 21 December.
If it rains
Nothing in the park is under a roof, so on a wet morning keep the play short and go early to Mrs Smith's, or on a Thursday to the National Trust's courtyard café.
Photographs by Haddo House (National Trust for Scotland), Neil Campbell and Chris Sansbury via Google