Calderglen Country Park

This is a lovely park, with walking trails taking you through woodland, a steep glen, and along the banks of the Rotten Calder river (rotten meaning red, the colour of the ironstone that the water flows over, making it look like a river of Irn-​Bru!). I lost track of time wandering around the park during my afternoon visit and missed the last entry time (4.30pm) for the conservatory and small animal zoo so I’ll need to come back again to see the meercats! There’s a café in the courtyard of Torrance House, the castle that the park grounds are centred around. This building and the zoo and conservatory buildings are grouped close to each other, near the car park.

How have I not reviewed this place yet? Well by dammit, it’s nearly midnight on a Thursday, the week after I was actually there but hey ho, here goes.
Calderglen is for any person in East Kilbride, a little slice of heaven. The town is, to be kind, a bit grey. It’s a new town with not much new about it and frankly, dull. I commute to Glasgow every day and come home to sit and watch TV. So, Calderglen offers me that escape to a nature, and only a five minute drive from my house (or half hour walk). Honestly, once you’re down on the nature trail, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in a completely different part of Scotland. The trees are high, the river is soft and flowing and you can hear the wildlife all around you.
Although, at the moment, the main trail is closed because of rock falls but that was almost a week ago so hopefully it has been secured and re-​opened.
It’s not quite as big as say, Chatelheraut but is very similar in terms of offering a nice circular walk to fill your lungs with fresh air. I love being half way round, right in amongst the trees and not being able to hear a car or many other sounds for that matter.
Up at the castle grounds area of the park and across from the playing fields and cricket club, there is a botanical garden with an adjoining children’s petting zoo. The zoo has various birds and small mammals, which my daughter Grace loves (obviously with a special fondness for the meerkats.) It’s well worth a wee visit, particularly if you have kids.
My only one gripe about Calderglen is the adventure playground. It really needs some TLC. There are no swings for kids and the zip slide thing for kids has no zipper (chair). The sand pit is also a bit suspect. So that’s a shame because the place will be mobbed with picnicers this summer.
There also used to be a duckpond and a couple of pig pens near the car park but these have been either closed or left to grow over, which again is sad because I loved them as child.
Okay, that was two minor gripes but still, if you’re ever in town, drive straight past the town centre shopping mall (it’s pants) and go to Calderglen.

Was very disappointed yesterday when we visited the café. It has changed hands and although th place had been nicely decorated, the girl at the counter taking orders was very sullen, no interest at all, the prices had gone up, the service was VERY slow and to top it all, they no longer do the children’s lunch box, only a dull sandwich and a drink. As this is such a wonderful place for children and is so geared up to children, this seemed very much a step in the wrong direction. Although we will continue to visit the park, we will ensure that we take a picnic with us as the prices have gone up so much.
The park is excellent and our little grandaughter (just over 2) regularly asks to go and see (the Big Spider and the meercats) when we go up to visit. I should add that these two grandparents enjoy it every bit as much as she does.

nice surroundings — unfortunately, when i was there a big fight between 2 groups of local (??) gangs (??), including broken bottles and baseball bats, went on (on a nice sunny sunday afternoon) — not sure thats the right place to take your kids to. certainly improvable from this perspective.

This is is one of the few places in East Kilbride where you can take your kids that is actually FREE.
At the top of Calderglen Country Park there is a small playpark, animal zoo, consevatory (which has reptiles, fish, birds, plants and toilets), and a café which is combined with a gift shop (which i have to say is reasonably priced).
At the bottom of the park there is a larger playpark and nature trails.
Both play parks have accessible disabled parking. My only gripe is that if you are at the play park down the bottom of the park, you have to go all the way back up to the top of the park for toilet access which is a bit of a pain.
Sometimes during the summer months pony rides are available for the children (with a surcharge) at the bottom of the park and there is an annual fair during the summer months in addition to other events.
All round I think Calderglen is fantastic for both kids and adults and hope that South Lanarkshire Council don’t decide to sell the area off to make way for house-​building etc.

We take the kids here regularly as there is quite a bit to do. There’s plenty of walks /​nature trails which take you down by the river. There a convervatory which has various types of plants, reptiles, fish etc to have a look at, it is quite small though. There’s also a mini zoo to have a walk through. Plenty of free parking also.

This is one of our favourite places to take the kids. There are many miles of walks through the park to tire the dog out and then there is the children’s zoo to entertain the kids.
Entry to the park, zoo and parking is free. There are ample parking spaces about the park so you can choose a convenient space depending on what you want to do.
It was safe to let our dog off the lead, obviously this depends on the dog, and there is plenty of open space to throw a stick/​ball for her.
The kids love the walks along the river, pretending the bridges are troll bridges, the playparks and the children’s zoo.
You can spend a whole day here without the kids becoming bored and it’s free. What more can you ask for?

Calderglen is a great place for walks. The children’s zoo is always a must for our family. The animals look well cared for. The greenhouse with the cacti is also quite spectacular.
There are many trails for running, not so good with a pram but if the weather has been dry it is definitely passable.
There is a large children’s play area which is well equipped. When you have done enough walking, running and playing there is a café and a gift shop. A great morning or afternoon out for the whole family.

Calderglen country park is only really a country park by virtue of the fact that a burgeoning East Kilbride hasn’t quite swallowed it up yet I’m guessing that in a few years this’ll be an oasis in a concrete jungle and will be all the more valuable for it.
As it stands this is a really good park with well marked walks through woods and up and down the sides of the river that runs through the park. Many of the walks can be muddy, but then this is why the retail gods gave us welly boots and kids like nothing more than jumping in the mud and dogs seemingly like nothing more than rolling in it.
The park also has a kids zoo with such exciting creatures as guinea pigs! All in all you find a wide variety of people using this park including those who wish to make use of it’s sporting facilities.

Calderglen country park is a great place with plenty to keep the kids occupied. There is a small animal zoo with rabbits, birds, guinnea pigs etc.
There are over eight miles of nature trails at Calderglen through the woods and along the banks of the River Calder
There are plenty of picnic areas, and there is also a lovely little café in the courtyard that has some good home baking. There is a wee gift shop here as well
The conservatory is home to a varied collection of plants and animals from around the world

Went here as a kid and had to take my children back, great wee park. Good for walks and interaction with small animals/​pet zoo. T.
ere are plenty of picnic areas and the views/​scenery is beautiful,
The kids enjoyed the play area.
No shop that I can think of so make sure you have plenty of drinks etc for the kids especially on a hot day.