The Hidden Gardens – a Quiet Garden and a Punjabi Lunch
A few hours, from Glasgow Central and back.
The route
Behind the old tram depot that is now Tramway, the Hidden Gardens are a quiet sanctuary garden on Glasgow's Southside, free to wander, with wide stone paths, clipped hedges and a tall old brick chimney rising over the flowerbeds.
A few minutes down Pollokshaws Road, Ranjit's Kitchen serves home-cooked Punjabi vegetarian food at shared, friendly tables.
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. Sleeps 2.
The day
Glasgow
A slow, peaceful morning: a five-minute train ride, an hour among the flowerbeds and benches of a hidden garden, and a warm, simple lunch just down the road.
About three hours
The Hidden Gardens
An attraction
Take the train from Central to Pollokshields East (check the times), then it's 5 minutes' walk past Tramway to the gardens' main entrance on Pollokshaws Road, opposite Coplaw Street. The station has stairs, so for a wheelchair take the 3, 38 or 57 bus to Pollokshaws Road instead. The Hidden Gardens are free, and from April to October they open Tuesday to Friday from 10am and at weekends from 11am, until 5pm. Wide stone paths run all the way round, with ramps into the Medicinal Courtyard and the Boilerhouse, so it's fully step-free. There are no toilets in the gardens themselves; use the accessible ones inside Tramway, open from Wednesday to Sunday. Dogs other than assistance dogs aren't allowed.
5 min on foot
Ranjit's Kitchen
Lunch
Walk 6 minutes south from the gardens along Pollokshaws Road to Ranjit's Kitchen at number 607, open Tuesday to Sunday from noon to 8.30pm. It's a family-run café cooking the Punjabi vegetarian recipes Ranjit brought from home, and the thali gives you a little of everything. Walk in: the seating is communal. It's step-free, with toilets, children are fine and dogs aren't allowed. Queen's Park station, for the train back to Central, is 5 minutes' walk on.
If it rains
On a wet day, sit out the worst of it in Tramway's café bar beside the gardens, open Wednesday to Sunday, then go on to lunch.
