Kirroughtree – Play, Red Squirrels and Lunch with the Dog
A few hours.
The route
Kirroughtree is the Galloway Forest Park's biggest visitor centre, in the woods just east of Newton Stewart, with a play park, gentle trails for little legs and a hide where red squirrels come to the feeders.
The café takes dogs, so the whole family eats together after the walk. It's an easy, outdoorsy few hours for small children, and the dog is part of it.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Kirroughtree
Swings first, then a quiet walk to watch red squirrels at the feeders, and lunch in the forest café with the dog under the table.
About three hours
Kirroughtree Forest
Kirroughtree is signed from the A75 at Palnure, about 1.5 miles east of Newton Stewart; whatever your sat nav says, stay on the A75 until Palnure and turn off there. The car park and trails are open all year. Parking is £2 for up to an hour, £3 for up to three hours or £4 all day, paid by coins, card or RingGo, and Blue Badge holders park free. Start at the play park, then take the quarter-mile Wild Watch Trail (allow 30 minutes) to the Wild Watch Hide, where red squirrels and woodland birds visit the feeders and roe deer sometimes pass. The path is usually firm and flat, but maintenance over the next few months will close sections at times and leave it rough in places, so follow the signs on site. Several trails suit little legs and pushchairs, and there's an orienteering trail to try as a team. Bring the dog along, kept close at the hide so the squirrels still come. Ticks live in the forest, so check everyone afterwards, the dog too. Toilets, accessible toilets and a Changing Places toilet are at the visitor centre.
The Kirroughtree Visitor Centre café
Lunch
Lunch is at the visitor centre café beside the car park, open from 10am to 5pm every day. Dogs are welcome inside, and the café has displays on the forest's wildlife, from the trees to the waterways, for children to explore while the food comes. If anyone wants more after lunch, bikes for a gentle family ride on the quiet forest roads can be hired from The Break Pad bike shop at the centre, which takes bookings online. Over Christmas and New Year, check before going.
If it rains
The play park and the trails are out in the weather; on a wet day keep to the short walk to the hide, then the café and its wildlife displays.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Dumfries and Galloway.
Photographs by Jean Prentice and Tommy Griff via Google