Brodick Castle, Garden & Country Park

Brodick Castle itself is a dramatic castle, but the real star is its ridiculously scenic location beneath the mountain hulk of Goatfell (also NTS-owned) and its vantage point overlooking the broad sweep of Brodick Bay on the Isle of Arran. The castle itself is in line for a major makeover, which will update but also preserve the charm of an old interior awash with period furnishings, weapons and oil paintings, and which oozes history and connections as wide ranging as Robert the Bruce and Mary Queen of Scots. The Garden & Country Park are also on hand to help make this an ideal family day out. There is are myriad walking trails, flower-kissed gardens, a woodland playground and a newly built re-creation of an Iron Age roundhouse. A recent addition have been camping pods within the grounds, and there are also guided ranger-led walks up into the mountain area of Goatfell.