[Closed] Family Holiday in Dumfries and Galloway - Recommendations

It's surprisingly great there for kids.

Mabie Farm Park is great - Loads of animals, donkey rides and you can hold the rabbits and guinea pigs
Cream o Galloway has a good play area indoor and out and food is good.
The cocoa bean factory is brilliant, my two love that.
There's a big play farm just outside Dumfries that we've never made it to.
Dino park is ok if the kids like it, expensive though.
There's a nice little beach at kippford

We've been every year for the last 4, going again this year and the kids still aren't bored, the wife is though so we're going a bit further up next year.

I have a static caravan near Annan and spend a fair bit of time down there with the kids. My wife and kids have gone down today and I'll join them on Friday night for a week.........

Cocoa bean company in Twynholm. Sample some delicious chocolate made by somafunk of this very parish. Great play area for the kids and the chocolate making workshop for the kiddies is awesome stuff.

Cream o'Galloway - Also a good day out if it's nice weather. Good ice cream

Dalscone Fun Farm - Indoor and outdoor play area. Nervous wallabies.

Mabie Farm Park - More outdoor play and farm animals to interact with.

Some nice beaches on the Solway coast. Bit chilly this time of year mind.

Somafunk works at the cocoabean? I had no idea.

I'll be back there in May, I'll be the one looking out the window wishing I'd dropped the family off and gone to Kirroughtree instead.

Somafunk works at the cocoabean?

It's the twirly chocolate moustache. It's a dead giveaway. 😉

[img] [/img]

Can I recommend 70mph on the m74 following on from this

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/scotland-speeding-yes-i-know-my-fault 🙂

Mull of Galloway - Lighthouse Visit and the cafe nearby is really very good... We spent an entire just fannying aboot on the peninsula.

I spent a large proportion of childhood holidays clambering round the rocks at Rockcliffe. My kids now like the same thing. Also walk across the mud at low tide to Rough Island or 2 mile coastal track walk to Kippford for pub lunch.

Mossyard beach is good if you might have some other reason to be over Kirroughtree way 🙂 Red squirrel watching area at Kirroughtree, plus cafe and a couple of playgrounds (old playground is the best - behind old visitor centre buildings). Plenty of fire-roads for trailer duties after you've had a quick blast on red / black....

Drumlanrigg has a kid's playground with slides of epic proportions (and some mtb trails).

Dalscone Farm kid's animal soft play thing mentioned above has a huge toy shop full of Bruder Tractors etc (never actually taken my kids in apart from the shop).

Are the midges still bad there?

All covered above really. Nice walks and play area at Kirroughtree while you ride, Glentrool blue has the longest descent of any Stane iirc. CocoaBean is marvellous. Great beaches, walks, riding, wildlife, ice cream, farm parks.

This is all rather well timed. Myself and my other are booked into a lodge in Kippford from Friday for a week. I've been to the area a little in the past, 7-stanes etc but not there exactly.

So, fatbike or thinbike for the area? I'll escape to a stane or two but was wondering if the beaches are fatbike territory or not?

I'm not a fatbiker, but we sometimes stay at Southerness and you can walk a long way round the coast to the west on the beach. Might make a great ride.

But beware of the tides and quicksand!!!
https://www.dgwgo.com/dumfries-galloway-tide-times/
Dock park for play area/walks by the riverside.
Sandyhills , Powfoot, Rockcliffe for beach
Palmerston cafe for ice cream/fish suppers. Lochside cafe fir fish suppers.
Dgone for swimming http://www.dgone.co.uk/
Drumlanrig as above for big play area, big house, cafe , tagalong fun.
Ae forest for tagalong, play by riverside picnic or cafe.
Loch Arthur and Kilnford cafes(Kilnford do a special Thurs night)
Wee museum in Dalbeattie.
Camera obscures/museum in Dumfries
In town, MrsGreens or Kings
Eating out? Probably need to book most places.
Aviation museum and Heathhall forest can be reached using the cycle paths.(just down the road from me)
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/sites/default/files/file_content_type/dumfries_web.pdf

Glentrool is over an hour away from Dumfries and probably a bit tough/rough for a kids tagalong. Around Ae and up through the wind farm would be good(tough climb possibly)
http://www.southofscotlandcountrysidetrails.co.uk/uploads/pdfs/HST_INF_ITT_020-Temporary-Diversion-of-Countryside-Trail.pdf

Dalbeattie, Mabie and Ae all have good walks. Brambles cafe at Dalbeattie or a couple of good ones in town. Mabie House at Mabie. Ae cafe @Ae

No midges yet molgrips
Yes they can be a pain

Mull of Galloway lighthouse and cafe, the climb to the top is worth it for the views

Loch ken - Red kite feeding at 1pm i think

Glen Trool should be ok with a trailer

Moss bank farm has a nice beach plus there is a outdoor centre over the road

Gate House of fleet and the viaduct are worth a trip

couple of nice smoke houses too

Wee museum in Dalbeattie.

Just spent last weekend there and had no idea we had missed this gem.

Rockcliffe Beach was lovely.

Might be a bit young for a six year old, but the Devil's Porridge museum near Gretna is a fascinating place to stop off and kill a couple of hours.

If you want to pretty much guarantee seeing red squirrels (plural) then head to Eskrigg Nature Reserve ( http://www.lockerbie-wildlife-trust.co.uk/) on the outskirts of Lockerbie. It's free, a short walk from the car park, and take some nuts with you for the cute wee gingers 😉

[i]Dino park is ok if the kids like it, expensive though.[/i]
Not if you're an adult 😆

Red Kite feeding station near New Galloway.
Samye Ling Tibetan centre/Buddhist temple at Eskdalemuir.

Prawny : get in touch before you come and bring your bike along to the factory, I could take you round my trails in the woods above kirkcudbright, short trails but there's multiple lines to take.

Arrpee : Cally palace woods at gatehouse of fleet has nice walks, if the weather is good then head to carrick shoreline nearby (5miles away) for exploring the rock pools for crabs, shrimps, fish or if you want a big beach then sandgreen is next to carrick and cream of Galloway ice cream place is between them all with cocoa bean 4 miles away, the blue route at glentrool will be a bit tight at points with a kiddie trailer and some of the berms may be tricky.

Caerlaverock castle and a walk up Criffel, the big hill south of Dumfries, are both great but don't know if Criffel would be a bit much for young kids?

D&G, animals, family friendly, something different...

http://www.senwickalpacas.co.uk/

Tubs Racing - Member
Caerlaverock castle and a walk up Criffel, the big hill south of Dumfries, are both great but don't know if Criffel would be a bit much for young kids?

brant - Member
Wee museum in Dalbeattie.
Just spent last weekend there and had no idea we had missed this gem.

Being a "local" I have walked/driven past it for years. We were staying nearby in the campervan with grandkids recently. Grandson(11)loves history and museums so we took him one afternoon and spent hours in there. We were mostly there on our own but the guy minding the place was so taken with grandsons knowledge and interest he spent ages with us. Might be a bit much for most 6yr olds but my grandson is an exception.....

PS I have one of your Pigs(2010)

perchypanther - Member
I have a static caravan near Annan and spend a fair bit of time down there with the kids. My wife and kids have gone down today and I'll join them on Friday night for a week.........

Carrick Bay is near cream of Galloway. Amazing beach and at low tide walk out to Ardwell Island with a picnic and walk back before the tide comes in.

Also the brewery bar in Castle Douglas has great beef and a League of Gentlemen feel to the clientele

Kirkcudbright is a nice place to bimble about.

The red deer range is fantastic too, We went for the first time last year expecting to see them from a hide, didn't think we would be hand feeding the buggers. Kids loved that.

Would second Caerlaverock Castle too, went there for the first time last year

Somafunk - will broach the subject with SWMBO, I don't like my chances but it's worth a go. I have to be out and back on our family holidays by 8:30am

Not sure how the op is getting on but my week is nearly up here now and as always, it's flown by but been cracking.

The red kite feeding station was great. Lots of kite paps in attendance.

Hucking her meat
[img] [/img]

Kite paps
[img] [/img]

Kite feeding

Followed some recommendations from here and also visited some places I'd been before.

Red deer range in Galloway forest park.
[img] [/img]

Mull of Galloway was great. Saw a few seals off the headland.
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]

Dalbeattie museum was cracking. Very interesting.
[img] [/img]

Belted Galloway coo
[img] [/img]

Nice spin at Dalbeattie and one at Mabie this morning.
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]

When in Rome...
[img] [/img]

Portpatrick
[img] [/img]

Amazing lovely place. Sad to be leaving tomorrow.

Thanks for the suggestions all.

There's a couple of recommendations here 😉

https://www.dgwgo.com/out-and-about-in-dg/100-things-dumfries-galloway-die/

Whithorn Trust - Iron age roundhouse.