The Helix – the Kelpies, a Timber Play Park and Hot Chocolate
A few hours.
The route
Two giant steel horse heads stand over the canal at the Helix, the big park between Falkirk and Grangemouth, and children love them on sight.
See the Kelpies up close, walk a mile along the paths to a timber play park by the lagoon, then head back for a hot chocolate in the visitor centre café. The paths take a buggy.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book the Kelpies Tour (optional)
Book the 10.30am Kelpies Tour on the Helix's own site if you want to go inside one of the horse heads: it runs every day, takes about 25 minutes from the visitor centre, costs £9 an adult and £3.50 a child at the time of writing, and two children go free with each paying adult.
The day
The Helix
It's a morning of open space and big things to look at and climb, all on flat paths. The horse heads first, then the walk round to the play park, and back to the café for something warm.
About three hoursAbout 2.5 miles on foot
The Kelpies
An attraction
Follow the brown signs for the Helix and park in the Kelpies car park, the bigger of the park's two, with 175 spaces. It's a paid car park from March to October, £3 to £4.50 a day depending on the month, and free from November to February, and it fills early on fine days and in the school holidays. From the car park it's about 300 metres to the Kelpies, two horse heads of stainless steel by the sculptor Andy Scott, each 30 metres high, standing either side of a lock on the Forth and Clyde Canal. To go inside one, take the 25-minute Kelpies Tour from the visitor centre, at 10.30am every day. Then follow the park's paths south for 1.6 km, about a mile, to the lagoon, where the Adventure Zone has rope bridges and timber climbing frames, with the toilets at the Hide close by. The Splash Play fountains run at weekends from Easter to October and in the local school holidays. The paths are tarmac and level all the way, easy with a buggy, but in places there's no barrier between the path and the water, so keep small hands held.
About 5 min on foot
The Helix visitor centre café
A drink
Walk back 1.4 km along the level paths to the visitor centre beside the Kelpies for the hot chocolate. Its café is open every day from 9am to 5pm, with soup and sandwiches, pizza and cakes, so it does for lunch as well. There are toilets in the visitor centre, one of them accessible, and dogs are welcome in the park, with a water bowl at the visitor centre. The car is 400 metres on.
If it rains
The play park and the paths are all outdoors. In steady rain, see the Kelpies from close by, skip the long walk to the lagoon, and spend the time in the visitor centre's exhibition and café instead.