Bellahouston Park

Bellahouston park has a lot to offer from an amazing life sized elephant sculpture, a fantastic play park for children, a ski slope, a Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece; house for an art lover which is beautiful inside and a fantastic wide open space to take a stroll, walk the dog, spot some squirrels and enjoy the surroundings.

I do really like it here and I think it gets forgotten about in the large list of beautiful parks in Glasgow. That only goes to show how lucky and spoiled for choice we are in Glasgow that somewhere as beautiful as this goes kind of unnoticed. You only really seem to hear of people visiting Bellahouston Park to go to a summer gig or to visit House For An Art Lover, but there's sooo much more on offer here.

It's quite a quiet park, even on the sunniest of days and I suppose it's because it's a little bit out of the way. But there are loads of things to see here. The walled flower gardens are absolutely stunning. You walk through the middle of rows and rows of colourful flowers, often being visited by bees and butterflies. It's a bright and inspiring place so make sure that you come to this part of the park if you visit.

There's a little mirror maze on the other side on the park to keep the little ones amused, and there's plenty of field space for picnics and dog walking. There are little trails here and there that you can explore if you want to get off the beaten track for a while too. I'm pretty sure there's an outdoor gym too, but I can honestly say that is never something I'd be rushing to visit.

If you come at the weekend there's occassionally a farmer's market in the mornings and you can buy some top quality, fresh produce from local vendors. Definitely worth exploring.

I often find myself in Bellahouston park when it's a nice sunny day. It's a great space to stretch your legs and I quite enjoy the view over Glasgow. I have a bench at the top of the hill which is my go to whilst I sit and unwind.

It's a very popular spot with dog walkers as it's got plenty of grassy areas to let your pet wander off. There is also a small children's exercise area. Here there are mini replicas of exercise machines - I may not be a child, but even I found them fun! Well I had to try it out in order to write a review... Of course :-)

There's an AstroTurf pitch also, but I'm not sure if this is free for use or not. I've spectated a couple of football matches here on Sunday mornings.

I live in and love the Southside and for me this park is one of the gems I'm lucky enough to have on my doorstep.

I don't remember why I decided to come here, but I'm really glad I did. I hadn't been here since I saw Kings of Leon many moons ago, but something drew me back.

Bellahouston park sits south of Ibrox and is fairly easy to get to by car and public transport. There's enough parking to mean your not going to be left parked on a side street. The park itself is deceptively large, in fact it's the behemoth of Glaswegian parks. If you arrive via the subway at Ibrox you'll arrive close to the walled garden and Charles Rennie Mackintosh's house for an art lover. The walled garden is pretty if not spectacular, with flower beds bordering 4 square grass plots. Hidden to the right of the garden, accessible through a small gateway is a small art gallery and exhibition space. For a donation of £1 you can walk round a detailed history of Bellahouston and Glasgow. I'd say as someone fairly unfamiliar with the south side, the history of Bellahouston is pretty interesting. To think find out that the park (and a good section of the south side) was once a collection of just 10 or so estates is pretty mind boggling.

Moving out of the gardens you'll come to Mackintosh's house for an art lover, not designed by him, but built in the mid 20th century from a number of sketches he put together for an art lover's home and entertainment space. Unfortunately on the day of my visit the house was closed due to a private event. The sculpture garden outside is full of interesting pieces, my favourite being the foot and arch.

Walking up around the hill you'll be greeted by one of the finest panoramas of Glasgow. On a clear day like today you can see for miles, all the way out to the hills. It's made all the more spectacular when you take in the size of the rest of Bellahouston park. In the wooded area on the hill you'll find the remnants of Bellahouston house, which adds an extra layer of fantasy to the park.

Another piece of interesting Glasgow history lies in Pope Benedict's visit to the park just over 5 years ago. There's now a bench and stone section marking the spot where he spoke to almost 300,000 people. Looking out from the place where he once stood, the size of the space adds to the gravitas of the idea of his presence. What makes it somewhat amusing is that down the road there's a stadium where he'd probably he lucky to speak to 30 fans!

My visit to Bellahouston did coincide with some fantastic weather, but that shouldn't sway you from venturing out under less favourable conditions, after all it's also home to one of Scotland's best dry ski slopes ;)

When I first started running properly, I did one circuit of Bellahouston park - just over two miles in circumference. Inside the park itself there is a good mix of flat and inclines - great location for hill reps up the slag heap (hard work!). As for other sporting facilities, there is also a small outdoor (flat) cycle track, a dry ski slope and a sports performance centre (martial arts I think?!).

The park is host to a 5k and 10k run by Bella road runners (the latter a pretty fast course which gave me my PB two weeks ago!) as well as cross country races. The great scottish run (half marathon) runs through the park, as well as the (so far) twice run event the southside 6 (16M run taking in 6 of "dear green place's" parks).

I live just round the corner from here, it's a great summer evening retreat and despite popular perceptions of Glasgow being full of alkies is always full of people out exercising.


Theres acres of space and it's open aspect make it a great alternative to Kelvingrove park for a lazy afternoon.


There's plenty to do too with a ski slope at one end and a sports center with an okay pool and gym at the other.


The park also houses the House of An Art Lover surrounded by a sculpture garden and a fairly well equipped playground

Yet another in the series of great parks available to residents and visitors of the dear green place. This is quite a quirky place. It has a dry ski slope, a leisure centre, sports pitches and an arty house with a good cafe packed into it. It is an interesting park to explore, and is where the Pope held a service when he visited Scotland (John Paul the Second).
On the down side, it can be rather exposed when the weather is chilly, and it doesn't really have a very buccolic atmosphere - very much a city space, and very much sports-oriented. Still worth checking out though.

Easily my favourite park in Glasgow for several reasons. Firstly its so open and well lit, i've often walked my do in it after 10pm and still felt perfectly safe. Its a great route for running. I average 4k every two days and my preference is to run round this park, the hills provide a bit of a challenge in a run, and the visual differences mean that you're not always focussed on the finish line. The park is also well enclosed for when you have dog or children with you. Variety provided with the play areas for kids, enclosed small park for dog training, council run events for families etc. Love it.

An unusual park in some ways with a very extensive open area on one side and some other major features that you don't find in many parks - Bellahouston Leisure Centre, a dry ski slope and the House for an Art Lover. Those locations are in the park but not really places you go BECAUSE they're in the park (unlike the usual ponds, playparks and forest walks in other parks). Probably of more interest for the locations listed than strictly as a park but if you want a big area to go for a walk in then it could be for you. It was good enough for the Pope back in the 80's!

Brilliant park, great for kids