Scottish Mums/Dads. Ideas for days out and things to do with DC please.

[MorocconOil]

We're sooooooo excited. We've just booked a motorhome for the middle two weeks of August to tour Scotland. We are planning a round trip but at the moment have no plans about where to go.

I thought we could plan it around any recommendations of great days out, campsites, beaches and things to see and do.

The DC are 8,6 and 3 and very active.

I would love any recommendations from MNetters.

west coast has fabulous beaches but the midge is a real issue. east lothian also has lovely beaches and great castles handy for edinburgh too.

borders area is great, there are a few great kids playgrounds and nice rivers for swimming.

mull is lovely there is a lovely beach for rough (ish) camping.

depend if you want the true scottish bitten to buggery, soaked through with several blissful sunny days on a deserted beach (west coast)

or slightly dryer not so bitten and slightly more busy beaches - east lothian borders area.

st andrews has a lovely beach but tbh can't think of any other reason to go there with kids.

Ah Glaswegian, thank-you.

We've got friends who live in the West-end in a flat with a big driveway so I'm hoping we can park-up there for the night!

We're coming from the North west of England so I'm thinking Culzean could be the first stop-off.

ddefinately, that area also has loudon castle which is meant to be great - haven't made it there yet ourselves but its on our to do list lol

loudon castle

loch lomond shores also nice on west coast and not too far outside glasgow - could be an enroute stop to oban/loch ness in a roundabout kind of way

loch lomond shores

Sheheraz- had heard the midges were less apparent on the East Coast. Is it really true then?

All these castles sound fab.

Thanks for all your ideas. Keep them coming

culzean

about scotland

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Dunbar looks lovely. Just looked it up. Do people go for the castle?

dunbar castle

mellowma its supposed to be sleetshowers and only 4 degrees tomorrow wrap up if you go

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from BBC weather website mellowma so am hoping am not giving you duff info

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cos of mild winters midge are on the rise on teh east coast but generally yes it is better. if you are lucky on the west coast you may get a good breeze adn the wee shites get blown away otherwise do not underestimate the power of the midge.

some campsites have those midge munching machines so you could check that out.

Do the machines really work then?

Sounds like we won't be going to Mull or Arran because of the midge.

DH gets some weird reactions to insect bites ,so better not risk it.

apparently teh machines do work but no personal experience. i have been to mull and been really lucky with the wind and had a lovely time.

Coming to this a bit late.

I can second Glasgow Travel museum, our DC went with Granny and loved it.

Also the Honeyfarm near Berwick. They have a footbridge between England and Scotland which the kids loved running back and forward on. They have a double decker bus tea room.

Glamis Castle is really nice, just north of Dundee. Good playarea.

If you are going up the A9 then a good place for a picnic break is um, God, forgotten the name. It will come back to me. Another little play area and you can have a walk up to the Falls of Bruar! Ah! That is the name of the shop too. ´Bruar Falls and House of Bruar.

If you are in Dundee, then go down to Broughty Ferry to one of the best playareas in Scotland. With loads of water games, perfect for a really warm day.

Dundee also offers Camperdown Park, playarea there is very nice for all ages. They also have a little zoo there.

Did anyone mention Storybook Glen near Aberdeen? Lovely park with fairytale statues.

Just skim read this but lots of our fave places have been mentioned already.

Stirling area has the castle, wallace monument, blair drummond safari park (way better than edinburgh zoo IMO and definately worth allowing a full day there) and briarlands farm. Linlithgow palace is about 25 mins away if ruined castles are a hit, or blackness castle and doune castle all about half an hour away.

I see you like rural castles - lots of great ones around Aberdeen, crathes and drum are fabulous or Dunnotar near Stonehaven (Stonehaven also has a fantastic outdoor pool if it's remotely warm!) . Aberdeen has great parks and beaches too.

Oh, and with regard to the midges, my mum swears by Dettol mixed with Babyoil. She gets bitten a lot otherwise. You smell horrible but it does keep the little buggers away.

You do find that some people are more affected by them than others. I never need to use anything when mum is sitting next to me as she is a fabulous midge attraction.

DH has been going to Scotland with me for the last 15 years and only last year met the dreaded midges, so you might not even see them.

The Avon Skin So Soft isn't the bath oil it's the dry skin oil. There are different flavours though - can't remember which one it is.

Get a copy of Scotland the Best - great guide book (the one that Scots use .

The beach at Nairn is great for kids - not a million miles from Loch Ness, and you can often see whales and dolphins in the Moray Firth - Spey Bay is great for whale watching.

The Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore also good (they have wolves!), and you could take a trip up Cairngorm on the funicular railway.

Loads of good castles - Eilean Donan at Dornie near Kyle of Lochalsh, Tantallon near Edinburgh (good beaches over there too), Dunotter near Aberdeen (ruined), Stirling Castle is good. Also tons in Deeside area - see the NTS website as most of them are National Trust properties.

Does the Skin so Soft work for mosquitoes as well? I'm off to SA in 2 weeks and we'll be spending a few nights in the Kruger which is a malarial area.

I grew up in an area rife with mosquitos, and I did try Skin So Soft. But the only thing that worked for me was DEET. It's readily available in SA. Are you taking anti-malerials? If not, you really need to use something that's very effective at deterring mozzies.

mozy off works great for midgies, however.

We will be taking anti-malarials as well. Still to get that sorted - dh is going to check with the GP next week. I usually use DEET based produts, especially on wrists and ankles - but wondered if I could supplement it with Skin So Soft.

It's worth a try, pb. DEET doesn't smell very nice - though some of the Off! products from the US are okay and have a built in sunscreen, which is nice, too, for a place like Africa (my landlords are living in Uganda now and brought a supply of Off! in addition to their anti-malarials). They're going to try some SA mozzie repellants, too.