Best Things To Do with Children In Galloway

Our family has been visiting The Machars of Galloway, near Newton Stewart for a generation. This website offers ideas and recommendations for things to do in the area. We would love to be your guide to Galloway and to host you at our cottage, Burnside. See the link to our booking page on homeaway.co.uk.

Family holidays in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, offer fantastic opportunities to take on new challenges and create shared experience. Laggan Outdoor  an activity centre near Gatehouse-of-Fleet, is the perfect place to start. It’s home to Scotland’s longest zip wire. and Family Walker took the plunge…

The Laggan Outdoor Zip Wire…

Viewed from the starting gantry high up on a hill overlooking the Solway Firth, the zip wire at Laggan Outdoor  looks every inch the longest in Scotland.

It takes 15 minutes in a Landrover, snaking its way up rough and rutted tracks, to reach the beginning of this record-breaking, half-mile run.

And if, like me, you don’t do heights, it really is best to focus on the view: a stunning seascape dotted with islands and interspersed with sandy beaches and rocky coves. On a clear day you can see right across the bay to the Lake District beyond.

Meanwhile, an expert instructor has secured the harnesses, clips and caribenas, issued the safety briefing, unhooked the safety line and the children have gone, as simple and as quick as that. They hurtle down the hillside, whooping with delight until they are distant, silent specs.

One of the attractions of the Laggan zip is two people ride together on parallel cables. You stand side-by-side on the platform, the company a comfort in the moments before departure.

Step off and your ears fill with the deafening whistle of the wire and roar of the wind as you plunge into a fast, furious and brilliant descent.

You soar across the hillside like a low-flying jet; the great vista giving way to trees, rocks, walls and the activity centre’s segway riders zipping beneath your feet where the wire slackens and the land rises to meet it.

It is several memorable minutes before you close in on landing, smashing through brake cables before finally being hooked in by the ground crew.

The Laggan zip is a brief journey that will be long remembered.

Laggan Outdoor, epitomises the Galloway experience. It is an unassuming, super-friendly activity centre, nestled into a hillside with breath-taking views. As well as the zip, there are mountain segways to try, water balling, grass sledging and more.

There is also a superb cafe, called Basecamp, with a roaring fire on cold days and barbecues on summer weekends. We booked a slot on the zip wire in the morning and had a brunch of scotch pancakes, crispy bacon and maple syrup to reward ourselves afterwards. Amazing how a little bit of fear brings out the best in food.