That Forest Feeling in Glasgow’s Southside
A personal reflection from Nicola, parent and board member of We Are Wonder, on her family’s favourite Glasgow southside nature spots.
The Bowling Green, Pollokshields where We Are Wonder first met in 2021.
Hi I’m Nicola, mother of three wild ones and a Glaswegian Southsider since birth. I’ve been a supporter and member of the team since I met Gina & Lillias at the Pollokshields Bowling Green in 2021 when We Are Wonder was a wee sapling. We’ve all gone on to meet hundreds of fellow parents & carers in the Southside of Glasgow through this growing community and enjoyed countless muddy afternoons together.
With a deliciously wide range of backgrounds, family set-ups and cultures, I feel there’s two factors we all have in common:
- we all care for at least one child,
- we all find ways to prioritise outdoor play and eduction for those children.
Known for our wet climate, the weather in Glasgow varies more than outsiders may realise. We can have warm, sunny days in March and stormy days in July. We can need thermals in April and suncream in October.
When it comes to We Are Wonder and outdoors, only extreme or very windy weather has ever been enough to cancel a meet up or session, when the risk becomes too much.
That’s not to say that soggy feet, faceplants in a puddle, wasp stings, wet bums or rumbly tummies haven’t seen some of us leave sessions early - but it’s safe to say we’re a prepared and hardy bunch when it comes to outdoor play.
So if you’re looking for that Scottish Forest feeling in the Southside suburbs of Glasgow - we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find a bit more info on three major parks on our doorstep and why I love them.
Queens Park
Beneath the beech trees in Queen’s Park.
Named after Mary Queen of Scots and a nod to the bloody battle which took place here in the 1500s, Queens Park is Glasgow’s third oldest park, opening in 1862 with the expansion of the city to the south side of the river. These days it’ll take you about 10 minutes to get here from the city centre.
The site chosen by Gina and Lillias for the Friday meet-ups is known as Camphill - a landmark with a rich history dating back thousands of years. On more recent development projects, roman coins have been found within the park grounds as well as pottery and items dating back to at least before the 14th century. Pack the metal detectors!
To find this site, follow the park’s signposts up, up and up to the flagpole. From here there’s incredible views of Glasgow all the way to Ben Lomond and the Campsie Glen. A great spot to get kids to count church tops.
From here, with the park fence on your left and the flagpole behind you, you’ll be looking towards the spot we spent many fun We Are Wonder Fridays.
The site offers some really beautiful sunshine on the right days, with plenty of leafy den areas and low limbed trees to climb. We've had impressive tarpaulin shelters thrown up here, we hosted crafts sessions, litter picked and celebrated birthdays. But mostly we all made the steep walk up to enjoy the woodland vibe the contained site allows.
The ancient ring around the site provides a visible boundary for the children old enough to adventure without adults. For the other troop, those aged 0+, needing supervision - or supervising - hammocks, slack lines and tree swings seem to do the trick for hours and hours on end and suitable trees were never in short supply.
I’ll never forget the magical mini rainbow we were gifted with here one day, you can see that on our instagram.
A great park for sledging, another favourite zone here for small children would be the outdoor amphitheatre, offering a little shelter on rainy days while still novel enough for a run around and hide & seek in the bordering shrubs. It’s worth keeping your eyes out for family-friendly events here which pop up during the spring and summer.
Pollok Country Park
A foraging walk in Pollok Park.
Pollok Park, once a private estate belonging to the city’s well known Maxwell family for around 800 years, it was gifted to the people of Glasgow in 1966. It was awarded European Park of the Year in 2008 and as locals, it’s not hard to see why, this country park is expansive with lots of different types of outdoor fun to be had depending on which area you choose.
Aside from the fantastic and well kept gardens Pollok House offers (don’t miss the dinosaurs bones or the wee fairy glen beside the vegetable garden when visiting this part of the park!) Pollok Park boasts highland cattle, a golf course and the world renowned Burrell Collection, a large, recently refurbished museum with artefacts and art from all over the world.
With free entry and a few fun interactive exhibitions, this is always a great Plan B that’s a 5 or 10 minute walk of some very ancient feeling woodland.
We Are Wonder, with the support of Glasgow City Council began running outdoor learning sessions in these woods behind The Burrell. I’ve spent many hours in this forest before and after this time. Well trodden by likeminded families, dog walkers and the wild deer which roam around, the children loved this space, which will soon be carpeted by bluebells. We’ve found frog spawn, newts and of course - the lunch stealing squirrels. Bold yins.
With young children and adults willing to go off the paths, the spaces we find in these parks can evoke the feeling that you are not as close to civilisation as you actually are.
The man made duck pond, with it’s cute little bridge over to a tiny island has offered my children hours of entertainment over the years. There’s some unassuming looking logs at the NorthWest of this pond with a carved sculpture in the middle - top tip - bring some seeds and place them on these logs and stay still for a flourish of tits, robins and other native birds who rely on the public feeding them here in Winter. On Google Maps this is humble pond is shown with the rather grand title of Pollok Park Islands, with froglets, feathers, ducks to feed and a bench for mum - what’s not to love?
On the opposite side of the path to this pond is another ancient site that has been a favourite We Are Wonder meeting point. The iron age ringwork here, dating back to over 2000 years ago, is like a ready made outdoor playground. Fallen trees, bogs-a-plenty and a very childfriendly section of the mountain bike tracks (think long, straight with lots of mud ramps), it’s one of those places that is hard to get the little ones to leave.
Bellahouston Park
Underneath the Horse Chesnut in Bellahouston Park.
Bellahouston Park, or Bella as it’s known locally, is another park rich in history.
Our site sits atop the huge hill with views to the city, Eaglesham wind farm, Paisley and beyond. Bellahouston Park is famous for the great British Empire Exhibition of 1938, a rabbit hole worth delving into, with the Palace of Art here the only surviving building. For those with pre-school children who haven’t yet tried the PlayGym sessions here (or Kelvinhall), they’re well worth a try.
While I couldn’t find any history quite as ancient as some of my favourite surrounding sites, it seems unlikely to me that it hasn’t had some kind of important role in the region for longer than online records show, given Bellahouston’s vantage point as one of the largest hills closest to the city.
Exposed in recent research by Glasgow University, the dark history of Glasgow’s slave trade springs up in relation to Bellahouston Park, with the owners of the private estate directly linked to West India merchants in the 1800s. The private estate was sold to the Glasgow Corporation in 1892.
From the first look this park looks like it’s not got a lot going on. Large, wide paths - perfect for kites, bikes and dogwalking yes, but great for us nature lovers?
A short walk to the woodland at the top and around the Charles Rennie Macintosh House for an Art Lover you’ll soon discover lots of interesting nooks and crannies. The play park here (free car park at the house for an art lover) is one of my favourites. With each bit of playpark apparatus on its own mound, and lots of space between each, it’s a great playpark to tire them out *enter evil laugh here*. Wellies are a must for this time of year.
The small, walled garden on a sunny day is blissful, cutting out that wind the way the walls were intended. With spring around the corner I can’t wait to see what’s been planted in here as it’s usually pretty spectacular tulips or colourful border flowers perfectly lined. Beware the triggering KEEP OFF THE GRASS signs on that oh-so-tempting, perfectly trimmed, rolled lawn…
We Are Wonder sessions begin at the play park, with our teams walking the young people up to our site at the top in the woods. As with the woods in Pollok, the children have quickly claimed this area, with dens, borders and zones invisible to the uninitiated. There are a few unusual and interesting trees planted around our site, presumably when the stately house was on the site. The site has a kind of natural path that flows through it and is ample room for 20 or so kids to call their own. It’s a great example of an area that will allow you to top up that green feel, without a 45 minute drive to do so.
More recently we met with the Glasgow City Council park rangers following some pretty impressive damage following story Éwoyn. Being present, developing and helping to maintain the sites we use is important for many reasons, including safety - but also to connect to the site.
Gina and Lillias instilled in me early on in our relationship that the connection to one place all year round allows young people to see the development of the same area in every season. It’s hard to fathom on a cold February day that in a couple of months we will need bug repellent, suncream and some of the areas we trample will soon be too overgrown.
These pockets can be found all over the city, a couple more in the southside I highly recommend:
Dams to Darnley Walk (start at Darnley, since there are development works at the other side for now)
Crookston Castle
Rouken Glen Park
Linn Park
When I’m in these spaces I often wonder to myself how many other parents have wandered the same paths we are wandering. Has blowing dandelions changed in the last few thousand years? Have children always needed someone to save them from bogs?
Nature + children. It must be one of a handful of combinations that can transcend time, space and societal boundaries.
If you’d ever like to join us for future meet-ups and We Are Wonder events, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via our social media or email.
References
Martin Morrison: Youtube 2020: Camphill Earthworks | Queen's Park | Glasgow | Iron Age | History of Scotland | Before Caledonia
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U6sej6rrEdY
Glasgow Life: Queen’s Park - Times Past: 2022
Martin Morrison: Youtube 2020: Pollok Park Ringwork | Glasgow | Iron Age Britain | Ancient History of Scotland | Before Caledonia
https://youtube.com/watch?v=meggF_Kjbt0
Saskia McCracken: The Stevens and Bellahouston Park
https://sghet.com/project/the-stevens-and-bellahouston-park/
Martin McCarthy: Ancient Scotland Website: Pollock Ring Work
