The Wheel Caravan Park

The sensible place to start is the Falkirk Wheel, an engineering masterpiece that connects the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal via a smart rotating boat lift. Getting there is easy: it’s a 20-minute walk from the caravan park via the Roughcastle Tunnel. Continue your ramble to take in the 30-metre-tall horse head sculptures known as the Kelpies, and trails and play area of The Helix parkland (both about four miles from the site). Other wanders from the site might take you to the historic grounds of Callendar House, or for an altogether spookier experience at the area known as the Falkirk Triangle, where UFO spottings have been recorded for more than 100 years. The rural surroundings mean plenty of access to such things as golf, fishing and horse riding locally, but it’s a fine idea to trade in all this countryside sooner or later for day trips to Stirling (25 minutes’ drive), Glasgow (half an hour) and Edinburgh (40 minutes).