Brodick Castle, Garden and Country Park (National Trust for Scotland) - Isle of Arran

Ru A.

One of the best castles I've been to. Excellent collections well curated and displayed with very informative staff who obviously enjoy their job. Gardens are phenomenal. You could spend the best part of a day here.

Tom B.

Brodick Hall offers so much for an excellent day out on Arran. Extensive grounds, beautiful gardens, fascinating history and probably the best adventure playground our kids (and I) have ever been to.

From the car park you enter through the tea room and then head up towards the castle. From there you can take a slight detour around the well kept and beautifully planted walled garden (highly recommended).

The grounds are considerable and are incredibly well looked after. The walk to through the woodland to the south of the castle is a must with lots of curiosities dotted along the route with statutes and interactive art installations. Make sure you check out the Bavarian Summerhouse!

Within the woods you can also visit the red squirrel hide and watch the squirrels and birds using the feeders. Just remember to keep quiet so as not to scare them off. 🤫

The castle and gift shop are excellent. The staff and volunteers are very helpful and knowledgeable about the history of the castle. Within the gift shop there is also a collection of old fair games you can try your hand at. We had great fun playing on the old Roll-a-Ball Derby.

The adventure playground is next level. As well as a large amount of excellent wooden play equipment, there is a treehouse and network of walkways that snake through the woodland and over the river that cuts through the estate. There are slides, ladders, fireman’s poles and a rope bridge all part of the set up. It’s meant for the kids but if you don’t mind a bit of a squeeze, it’s also great fun for the parents! I very much enjoyed rediscovering my 12 year old self on the play area.

The entry price is very reasonable for what you get, and if you are a National Trust member in England then your entry is free as part of your membership.

One thing to note - the tea room closes at 3pm with takeaway available until 3:30pm. This felt a little early to us. We had planned to enjoy the grounds and then stop at the tea room before leaving as it’s right next to the car park. When we visited we only just made it in time to order some food (3:25pm) and were able to enjoy this outside thanks to the good weather. Bear this in mind if you have hopes of a tea and scone before you leave.

Mandy M.

Beautiful castle amazing staff. But there is something In the very first room that was particularly jarring and I don't think it should be there. It's to me disgusting. They should have a picture of it situation with the men who bought it used it . Apart from that it was so lovely the gardens are the best part of this castle

Kelly S.

The gardens were beautiful. So much to see. The only thing that I would say was the gardens shut at 5 but the toilets and some attractions like the squirrel hide closed at 4 which seemed a bit pointless.

John &. A. G.

The castle from the outside looks like
an average heritage building. However,
once you step inside, you find out how
extrordinary this place is and how a
young princess managed to transform
original castle into something special.
The gardens consist of a mix of
parkland,woodland, a walled garden and
a Bavarian Summerhouse and contain
some surprises at various turns.

Dennis S.

On a great weather day, we did not venture inside the castle, only purchasing garden & park tickets. The Castle and gardens are very beautiful, highlight are the walled garden, bavarian summerhouse and the Bronze age Roundhouse. I am partially disabled with arthritis. I found walking generally easy terrain but there is a lot of walking, there are lots of benches for rests, which is a god send. The cafe is nice, mainly pre packed stuff, not cheap but worth it as quality is good. Ploughmans lunch was very tasty. Staff are friendly and helpful. An excellent place for some all round peace and quiet.

David S.

Every garden I've visited in Scotland has been pleasurable and I've been to a lot of them ,the garden here deserves my high score because my wife loved it ,she has difficulty in getting around so needs to rest quite a bit ,what was the key points for her was being able to view the gardens from the overlooking viewpoints,the weather was very good the day we were there which added to her enjoyment of it 👍😊❤️

Jessie S.

The gardens are stunning, there is so much to see. We did not have much time so just had a quick look around the castle but I would of loved to of spent more time looking around the gardens, I could easily get lost in there.