Pollok Park

Hi, reader

Happy Halloween. 

Yesterday the rain finally stopped, although there are still lots of flood warnings and river levels are high. This is how the River Allander looked in Milngavie in the morning.

So rather than risk travelling out of Glasgow, I decided to take advantage of the brief sunshine and return to Pollok Country Park.

The park is the largest within the city of Glasgow. It was originally part of the Old Pollok Estate, which was home to the Maxwell family for over 700 years. In 1966, Mrs Anne Maxwell Macdonald gifted the estate, including Pollok House, to Glasgow Corporation with the condition that it remained a public park.

This is Pollok House, nicely lit up by the afternoon sun. The house wasn't open today, but I was able to wander around the gardens.

Here it is from another angle.

The White Cart Water flows through the park towards Paisley.

Let's take a look from the bridge.

Pollok Country Park covers 361 acres of land, and is home to an  award-winning fold of Highland cattle. I saw a few of the Highland cows, but they were in the distance and too small to get a decent photo.

In 2007, Pollok Country Park was named Britain's Best Park, and in 2008 it was named the Best Park in Europe, beating competition from parks in Italy, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden. Despite this, by 2019 it was considered that the park was 'underused' with plans drawn up to encourage more visitors.

There are lots of little paths and archways in the gardens of Pollok House and you can get lost exploring them.

A brief, light shower produced this lovely rainbow as the sun returned.

I really enjoyed seeing all the trees with their autumnal colours. I've always enjoyed the autumn, but having been in Thailand since 2001, this is the first time I've experienced a British autumn in 20 years. I usually visit the UK in April and May.

I'd bet that Pollok Country Park looks amazing whatever the season.

It felt good to be back in nature after spending the last week or so looking around Edinburgh and Glasgow. I rested on this bench for a while along my walk. It looks like it's been carved out of one single piece of wood.

A boat in the middle of a lawn for some reason.

I also came across this little Hobbit village, which I'm sure delights kids who come to the park.

This was a really relaxing afternoon and I'm grateful to my friend, Jimmy, for recommending the park. If you're in Glasgow, it's really worth checking out.

And finally back to my van as the evening started turning chilly. More rain soon followed.

Right now, I'm to the north of Glasgow, near a lovely town called Callander. I hope to have interesting pictures to show you in my next post. 

Thanks for reading.

Brian

You'll ... float ... too ...

Oh dear, reader. It seems I wasn't alone as I walked around Pollok Country Park this Halloween season. Pennywise the clown has appeared in five of the photos in today's post. Look again. Look closely. Take care and ... 

... SWEET SCREAMS!