Fullshawmill Holidays

Get out and about in cultured Ayrshire: fans of Scottish poetry can learn about the life of legendary Rabbie Burns at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum (35 minutes’ drive), and lovers of industrial history can admire the functioning waterwheel and former mill at The Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume (25 minutes). Ayrshire is castle country too. There’s easily to do – from visiting the armoury to admiring the Chippendale furniture and wandering the Walled Garden – at clifftop Culzean Castle and Country Park (50 minutes) to warrant a day trip, while Kelburn Castle and Estate (40 minutes) has eye-catching graffiti on its facade and exotic gardens with ancient trees. If you’re taking the kids, both venues have themed play areas and lots of room to run around on way-marked paths. The Isle of Arran (take the ferry from Adrossan, half an hour) is nicknamed ‘Scotland in miniature’, and it’s easy to see why. Brooding Brodick Castle overlooks a sweeping bay, and there are mountains, hills and glens to explore on foot or by bike – and if you’re into climbing, Goatfell is the highest peak on the island.