Pollok House

The 146-hectare Pollok Country Park was the largest urban green space in Europe, until the building of the M77 motorway in the early 1990s sliced off a large portion along its north-western fringe, despite angry protest from locals. But it remains an expansive and beautiful public green space, and is home to two important cultural attractions: The Burrell Collection and Pollok House.

Built in 1752, it was originally the ancestral home of the Maxwell family, who owned and resided within the Old Pollok Estate for 700 years. Pollok House has been a visitor attraction since the 1960s, when, along with the estate itself, the grand country mansion was donated to the City of Glasgow by its last heir Dame Anne Maxwell. The house is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, which cutely describes it as ‘Scotland’s answer to Downton Abbey’, because of the flavour of privileged 1930s living found in its many lavish spaces. Living rooms, bedrooms, a billiard room, a library for 7,000 books – there are plenty of rooms to explore, and each is packed with period furniture and furnishings. You’ll also find one of the UK’s finest collections of Spanish art, including works by El Greco, Francisco Goya and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and there are paintings by William Blake too.

Pollok House’s extensive garden boasts intricately manicured hedges and more than 1,000 species of rhododendron. Once you’re done wandering around those, the rest of Pollok Park is yours to explore and discover; walk through its deep woods and along the White Cart River, ride along its three mountain bike trails or gaze at its herd of oh-so-photogenic Highland cattle. With The Burrell Collection to squeeze in too, you’d best make a day of it.