Sunday 7 June 2009

Muiravonside Park or: where's the giraffe?

Just in case of any slight misunderstandings. There are no giraffes at Muiravonside Park. Neither are there rhinos, hippos, lions, monkeys or zebras. When given some options of where to go for some fun with her cousin, swing park and shops got a no, while farm animals got a loud "yes please!" followed by an impressive attempt at guessing what farm animals might be on display. Cubling clearly hasn't got a concept of farm animals, and continued all day to look for the giraffes.

Not that she wasn't rather impressed with the ponies, horses, donkeys, highland coos, pigs, llamas, sheep, ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, or simply the dogs on the leashes of punters. To her, all of these are equally interesting.

Muiravonside Park is beautifully situated near Linlithgow, and the colours of May/June never cease to please my eyes. Meadows full of yellow buttercups, a landscape which switches on my hayfever worry, but then at the end of the day, I've been magically spared. There are plenty of walks through meadowland, along riversides, past parkland and farmland. A relaxing day with lots of space for toddlers to run about.

The Newparks farm offers lots of farm animals for toddlers to get close to, both indoors and outdoors, and just a little walk away there's a decent swing park. Well, it's more suitable for slightly older children, what with a shoot that Cubling was happy to climb up on but too scared to come down on. Picnic tables and a basic tea room complement the place. The tea room offers a small selection of basic food at affordable prices, enough for a light lunch, and with enough choice to satisfy the fussier toddler. Muiravonside Park offers enough to do for a half day outing, if you're into walking, i.e. if your child is a bit older than 2, it can even fill a full day.

To remain consistent, I forgot to take my camera yet again. So no photos, sorry, a real shame because it was a rather beautiful place.

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