The Pineapple at Dunmore – A Stone Folly and the Kelpies
A few hours.
The route
The Pineapple at Dunmore, just north-west of Airth, has been called the most bizarre building in Scotland: a garden summerhouse of 1761 crowned with a giant stone pineapple, standing at the head of an old walled garden.
Wander the garden and the grounds around it, then drive south to the Kelpies, two great steel horses' heads at the Helix, with a tour inside one if you like and a coffee and cake in the café beside them.
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 2.30pm Kelpies Tour on the Helix's site to go inside one of the heads: it runs every day, lasts about 25 minutes and costs £9 an adult and £3.50 a child at the time of writing.
The day
Dunmore
It's an afternoon of two landmarks made two and a half centuries apart, one carved in sandstone for an earl's garden and one built of steel beside a canal, 22 minutes from each other by road. Both are free to walk round, and a coffee and cake waits at the end.
About three and a half hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
The Pineapple
An attraction
From the A905 just north of Airth, turn onto the B9124 and almost at once onto a minor road that runs under half a mile to a small, free car park outside the walled garden. It has room for about ten cars, and the National Trust for Scotland asks drivers to take care on the road in. The Pineapple was built in 1761 for the Earl of Dunmore: a classical porch below and, above it, a colossal pineapple carved in sandstone quarried a few hundred yards away. A pineapple was a sign of great wealth then, and the hothouses on either side of it grew them. It stands in the middle of the garden's north wall, and the best view is from the lawn below. The building is let as a holiday home by the Landmark Trust, so it's seen from outside, but the walled garden and grounds are open every day, all year, and free. An all-ability path runs from the car park to a viewing platform at the pond, where rare great crested newts live. Dogs are welcome. There are no toilets, so use the ones at the Helix. An hour is plenty: leave by 1.50pm if you're taking the 2.30pm Kelpies Tour.
22 min by car
The Kelpies
An attraction
It's 22 minutes' drive south to the Helix, the big park between Falkirk and Grangemouth, by the A905 and the M9. Park in the Kelpies car park, 300 metres from the visitor centre. It's paid from March to October and free from November to February, and it's locked at 8pm from November to March and at 10pm from April to October. The Kelpies are Andy Scott's two steel horses' heads, each 30 metres high, beside the Forth and Clyde Canal: a tribute to the working horses of Scotland's industry. Walking round them is free. To go inside one, take the 2.30pm Kelpies Tour, which runs every day: check in at the visitor centre first, and it ends 25 minutes later inside Duke, the head bowed low. Dogs can walk round the sculptures but can't go on the tour. The paths are level all the way, and in places there's no barrier at the water's edge.
About 5 min on foot
The Helix visitor centre café
Coffee and cake
The café is in the visitor centre beside the Kelpies, with picnic benches outside, some made for wheelchairs. It's open every day from 9am to 5pm, with soups, sandwiches, pizza, and cakes and pastries with gluten-free and vegan choices. There are toilets inside, one of them accessible, and a water bowl for dogs. If every table is taken, carry something from its grab-and-go fridge out to the benches. The car is 300 metres away.
If it rains
Both places are mostly out of doors. On a wet afternoon, see the Pineapple from the lawn and skip the walk to the pond. Then spend longer at the Helix: the Kelpies Tour ends inside Duke, and the visitor centre has an exhibition about the sculptures beside the café.