Friday
After cramming all of our belongings into the car we hit the road and headed towards Stirling. Check-in at the yurts was from 3pm so we decided to spend the afternoon at Briarlands Farm which was very close to our accommodation for the evening. The weather wasn't all that great, but I was well prepared so we all climbed into our waterproof trousers and made our way round the various activities. (Rick wasn't prepared and his trainers got absolutely soaked!!). We've been to Briarlands before and had a great day out so I was keen to visit again. There have been a few changes since we were last at the farm, and my son loved the new maze. I've absolutely no idea why he was insistent on wearing his cycling helmet by the way!!
The Highland cows at Briarland Farm
Which way out of the maze??
Saturday
After breakfast at the yurt, we decided to explore the play trail at Glen Finglas. The kids loved following the map and looking out for various items as we walked round the paths. There were drumming benches, spy chambers and a secret den.
The giant seed... children are encouraged to weave grass or leaves into the wire frame.
Following the trail
The shy roe deer
Magic eye trick... line up the panels to discover a stag beetle.
It took us a few hours to navigate the trail, including snack time in the secret den! Back at the car park we decided to head to the Scottish Wool Centre for a nosey and have lunch. We met the owls and birds of prey from Perthshire Sporting Plus. This was definitely one of my highlights of our holiday - seeing the kids faces as my son held Toby the European Little Owl.
Isn't he cute!!
Afternoon tea for two at the Scottish Wool Centre
That night we had a BBQ at the yurt and the sun stayed out long enough for us to eat and enjoy a little glass of wine.
Sunday
The weather was terrible overnight so we had a lazy morning in the yurt, the kids played with their games and drew some pictures. Back in the car, and this time we headed in the opposite direction to Bridge of Allan for lunch and a wander. I had a gorgeous tuna salad at Jam Jar. The littlest had a roast dinner which looked amazing... it was a huge portion which she didn't manage to finish so I had some and it was delicious.
The sun appeared thankfully and we made our way to Blair Drummond Safari Park for the afternoon. The entry was really expensive which I hadn't anticipated (about £50 for the four of us... I would have been a little cheaper buying online), but we went in anyway.
This was the first time I had driven round a safari park, and I must admit it was a little daunting with all the entry gates. It did feel like we were going into Jurassic Park! We drove round the animal reserves slowly, taking it all in. My favourite animals were the deer, giraffes and zebra. The monkey drive through was closed, but we did take a boat to Chimpanzee Island later in the day. The pedal boats were good fun and the kids thoroughly enjoyed the Adventure Park...we also had some ice cream cones. Our last stop was the Sea Lion Show, by which point it was 5pm and time to go home. It started to rain just as we were leaving.
Enjoying the pedal boat
Monday
On Monday morning we got all packed up and said goodbye to the yurts. We were back to Glasgow pretty quickly as Rick had to get to work.
We had a fantastic weekend though and I will most certainly be visiting this part of Scotland again soon.
Sarah x
sounds like a pretty awesome little break. The last time I was at Blair Drummond Safari Park was when I was tiny. Definitely need to go back but £50? Ouch!
ReplyDeleteI really want to visit a Yurt after your blog posts :D