Noah's - Soft Play in Perth

Noah's as it is now called - no longer known as Noah's Ark - has undergone some renovations in the last year meaning it's much brighter and cleaner than it used to be. There's a big soft play frame with areas designated as suitable for different age groups for under 3s, under 5s and over 5s. At 7 my daughter still enjoys playing in the larger frame, but you can't be sure the popular staffed climbing wall will always be in operation so it's best to phone and check if this is something your kids are keen on. For £1 you can have a shot on the small motorbike track (best for under 5s) and there is also a ceramics painting room, go-kart track and ten pin bowling on site.

I still miss the curly fries, which disappeared off the menu over a year ago but the new menu is reasonably priced with good value kids meals, and if you can put up with the horrors of little ratbags throwing chips at each other at the neighbouring tables, you can enjoy a decent bowl of soup or all sorts of unhealthy but quite tasty options.

Noah's benefits from little or no competition in the local area, so simply by virtue of being there they are always busy, especially at weekends. At busy periods they try to enforce a two-hour time slot, but as this is just a recommendation no one pays much attention to it, and it's always horrifically busy on a wet weekend!

Glasgow Science Museum

Kind of ashamed to admit I've never been here before, but we finally made it. Glad we picked a dry day to visit, as it was very busy ... I can't imagine how busy it would be on a wet day! The showings for the IMAX were sold out when we arrived at about 11.30am, so if you want to see those you'd probably be better booking in advance.

Car parking was easy, with a token for the car park costing £3. We used our Tesco Clubcard Vouchers to get in, and also purchased tickets for a Planetarium showing - there were four time slots to choose from.

There are four floors in the science halls, all stuffed with science things  - very hands on for kids, masses to keep you busy for hours and plenty of staff around doing shows and demonstrations. We could have been there longer, and still not have done everything there was to do. I find it really hard to pick out one particular thing that made me think "wow" or something so popular we had to queue for a shot - in fact, everything was good but sad to say nothing was actually that memorable! But surely the most important judge is my daughter, since she's the kid, after all.

On the way out I said, "Well, we've done everything I think... what bit would you like to go back and do again?" and was a little amused by the answer "Well mum, I'd really like to go back on the escalator."

Landmark, Carrbridge

An old childhood favourite, I grew up with the Landmark Forest Park near Aviemore firmly on our Holiday Map. Back then, we only needed the Tree Top Trail (not a red squirrel in sight today!) and the Clydesdale Horse and Sawmill to keep us kids happy. Now you can add to that the Runaway Timber Train (rollercoaster), Three wild water rides The Otter (pictured), The Wildcat and for the really brave, The Falcon. 

There's also the SkyDive if you fancy throwing yourself off a wooden platform 50 feet up or the Ropeworx, a high wire challenge through the trees (and a smaller version known as The Tarzan trail). Added to that are a maze which seems to have shrunk since I was seven, but is still fun, and the fire tower with 105 steps to the top and a 360 degree view of the Cairngorms. 

There are also lots of slides and things suitable for smaller kids (which bigger kids still fit on!)

After nearly eight years, Leah's favourite bit is still the Man in the Toilet, which you can see for yourself at the Sawmill! It's worth getting a season ticket if you are likely to come back twice within a year, so a good investment overall.

Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig

Brilliant day at the Highland Wildlife Park. We were lucky enough to see the two young male polar bears, Walker and Arktos playing in their pond. We had the best view of them close up from the car as we drove through the park, a fantastic sight. Other highlights included the baby snow monkeys - they must be the cutest babies in Scotland right now:

We also saw a red squirrel and several very sleepy looking wildcats, as well as other Scottish critters like the otters, pinemarten and capercaillie. And of course the Grey Legged Greater Striped Grock looking extremely fierce as usual:

Watch out Bison, you have a rival for Alpha Species!

Ceramics Cafe in Cupar

Raining again! Met friends at the Ceramic Experience in Cupar for a hot chocolate and some pottery painting. Wide selection of things to paint, think we now own most of the little animals, but managed to find a squirrel today that we haven't got. Girls (aged 7 ish) spent nearly an hour happily painting their critters and then had a quick go in the free soft play, but it's really more suitable for 5s and under. Fairly mediocre food and drink here, and cash only, which is a pain in the neck. Service a bit lacking. But at least it was warm and dry!

Cairnie Fruit Farm and Mega Maze

It stopped raining! We went with some friends to Cairnie Farm near Cupar for a picnic to make the most of the dry weather. Masses to do for kids with all the old favourites like go-karts, trampolines, slide, swings, sand pit, barrel bug ride (£1) and flying fox, plus some new things like the grass sledging and super fast slide where you sit on a mat. The weather has impeded the maize maze a bit, and it's not grown yet. They hope it will be ready by the end of July, but it didn't look very high at all (ankle height?) so I think that's optimistic.

Update 7th August - Visited again and maze is ready! Yippee!

Some strawberries ready to pick in the polytunnels, and we enjoyed ice cream in the cafe and a nosey round their rather lovely shop. Always a great day out with the kids - better enjoyed when dry outside!

Castle Campbell in Dollar

Was in the mood for a romp around a castle today, so we headed off to Dollar to visit Castle Campbell, A Historic Scotland property.  A lot of the adventure was in the getting there - he thought I knew where it was. Naturally, I thought HE knew where it was. And then when we eventually found Dollar, we discovered the road to Castle Campbell is rather steep and narrow, with little opportunity to pass another car should you meet one coming the other way. Luckily for us there was a space in the tiny car park at the top of the hill, as I didn't fancy reversing all the way back again!

A pleasant if slightly hilly walk takes you round and down to the imposing castle in its amazing setting, with great views out over Clackmannanshire and beyond. There's a quiz for kids, resulting in stickers and a "genius" certificate if you score 100% (we did!) There are lots of dark and spooky rooms in this old ruin, many many stairs to climb to the roof terrace, and some great interactive displays and information boards. There are also some fabulous gargoyles on one of the ceilings which are worth climbing up all those stairs for!

The gardens were lovely with plenty space and facilities for picnics. We were impressed to find inside one of the tiniest old castle rooms a modern loo, what must surely be the smallest toilet in Scotland! There is a "tearoom" of sorts - with provision to buy sachets of hot drinks and snacks at the shop and make your own drinks in the small kitchenette provided. If you intend to visit more castles, it's certainly worth your while thinking about buying an annual pass for Historic Scotland, which is good value. See their website http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/ for more details. 

Scone palace with kids

After a sneaky look at the cute bunnies in Pets At Home we made it to Scone Palace with its amazing grounds and noisy peacocks for a picnic with the cousins.

Made it through the Murray Star Maze without getting lost (tip, follow the most worn path!) and enjoyed the butterfly garden, the gorgeous donkeys and newly renovated adventure playground, complete with old-fashioned stocks to put your big brother's head  in before stopping off for ice cream and coffee at the cafe on the lawn. 

Our bunch of children from aged 2 to 12 enjoyed rolling down the the grassy hills while we had a coffee and a blether. You can get a family ticket for the grounds for around £40, allowing 2 adults and up to 4 children access for the season.

Scotlandwell and Lochend Farm Shop

It stopped raining for a nanosecond this morning, so we donned our wellies with our pals and set off to Scotlandwell to walk around the forest and admire the Portmoak mosses! There's a great dog-friendly circular loop around the forest that takes about 45 mins, plus dawdling to build dens and poke at fungus.
This was followed by lunch at the child-friendly Lochend Farm Shop about 2 minutes further down the road. I had the Hot Roast Roll of the Day (highly recommended). Small cafe, great menu, child portions available. Lovely home baking, nice coffee, second hand bookshelf and colouring books for the wee ones. Also great gifts at very reasonable prices in the wee shop.

Rainy Summer Holidays

I decided it might be a good idea to blog about some of the places you can take kids in Scotland since I'm a bit of an expert at being out of the house. I think I might be allergic to housework. I'm certainly allergic to duvet days. Have to get up and out! There are tons of great places for kids in Fife and Perth that are on my doorstep, and whenever I try to look up things to do for kids in Scotland, I rarely find anything we haven't tried already. So maybe it's time to share my experiences.

That's the first week of the "summer" holidays done. It hasn't stopped raining yet. We've been to the cinema, the museum, the aquarium, the library (two actually), the swimming pool, to soft play (twice) and the ceramics cafe. Oh and we've been shopping, to friend's houses, had friends for sleepovers, and had a lazy-ish day spent mostly at home (that was today). Haven't resorted to dusting and hoovering yet, but there are still five weeks to go. It could still happen. Ha.