A week's holiday to the Isle of Arran

After a square sausage roll on the ferry from Ardrossan I patiently waited for it to dock at Ardrossan's modern, yet slow to position new terminal. The buses were waiting - I had some water, walking shoes and a small backpack. Others had poles, rope, meals, litres of water and (potentially) some dynamite. The bus dropped us off outside of the Wineport - a place we would later visit for excellent food - and I followed the signs to Goatfell. Goatfell is the highest point on the Isle of Arran - at 749 metres it's a fair ascent, but falls just short of a Munro. With Goatfell you have to be content with its Corvett designation.

The round trip to Goatfell via Wineport took just under five hours, during which I was blessed with beautiful Scottish weather. The hardest part of the journey is the descent from the top where the drops onto stone are quite hard on the knees. I would say it's easy to medium difficulty - but there's definitely no need for the extreme climbing equipment some people had. It was worth it for the views from the top and, for most visitors to Arran, a hike to the top of Goatfell is, quite rightly, essential.

Another successful walk was Glenashdale Falls. This circular walk begins and ends in Whiting Bay and is extremely easy, so our seven year didn't complain too much. The sections through the forest are beautiful, but the highlight is the viewing platform that gives a panoramic view of the huge Glenashdale Falls. Just behind is a river with smaller waterfalls - we had some fun jumping across the steppingstones, even if it took some time for wet feet to dry afterwards. As you can see from the photograph below when the sun is setting the views along the Whiting Bay coast are stunning.

Arran is not short of golf courses, but on this visit we only practiced our short game courtesy of the crazy golf infront of the Little Rock in Brodick and the putting green in Whiting Bay. The crazy golf is really well maintained and enjoyable, with the Forth road bridge modelled hole causing many laughs and lots of frustration. The putting green in Whiting Bay has a honesty box (£2.50 each) and it's a great activity for children before or after a walk along Sandbraes. The putters and balls are provided.

We stayed in Whiting Bay by renting Ach-na-Mara from cottages.com. The house had a great view of the sea and provided an unexpected additional sight on our first night courtesy of a car that had crashed onto the beach. Our only problem was the kitchen did not have any heating - it was completely freezing while preparing food.

Between Whiting Bay and Brodick is Lamlash. The beach here is also beautiful, with a stunning view out to the Holy Isle. Luckily a couple told us to walk up a bit further along the beach to see the seals. This was great advice - about 5 or 6 of them were lounging about on rocks, making the most of the Scottish sun.

We hired a car from Glasgow Airport for the trip to Arran. There is a bus service, but if you want to do more than explore Brodick and, perhaps, Lamlash and Whiting Bay then a car is essential. Unlike the roads on Mull, the Isle of Arran generally has good quality connections and, while single track roads do exist, they are not as commonplace as on Mull.

What we did

We were lucky with the Bellevue Farm tour, as my daughter was the only one participating. First she fed a baby lamb with a bottle of milk and then fed the goats penned up behind. There were alpacas to feed opposite the cows and the final tasting session came courtesy of Hettie the highland cow; we had to wait a little while for her to slowly make her way to the gate. Bellevue Farm is a nice place to visit, surrounded by sheep filled fields. My daughter got to take a freshly laid egg away with her - though only after a little wait for the humongous turkey to move away and allow us to collect it. The visit ends in a converted barn, where there are a few games to play, a combined harvester to marvel at and where someone had brought a guinea pig in to cuddle.

More fun with animals came with a visit to Arran Alpacas. First you feed the alpacas, sheep and ducks. For the curious the sheeps tongues don't feel so pleasant, so we used copious amounts of disinfectant afterwards on our hands. The highlight is taking an Alpaca for a walk around the field or, if you've booked it, a longer trek. The alpacas were good natured and well behaved throughout. There's also some alpaca arts and crafts on offer and a games room with table tennis and pool.

The gentleman taking the £39 fee from us at Brodick Castle said the gardens were "beautiful in bloom". He was not wrong and there are numerous beautiful calming sights in the ample gardens of the aged castle. The highlight inside was the old fashioned horse racing game, where you have to roll balls through holes for your horse to advance. Outside the squirrel hide provided sightings of only two squirrels, but dozens of birds. My daughter enjoyed the adventure playground the best, which had plenty of twists, turns and levels. Brodick castle was a better and larger experience than I expected.

The Auchrannie resort is large. We visited for their swimming pool, which was ok. I wouldn't say it was cheap at £12 a pop; especially as they want another few pound to hire a towel. There are spa treatments and massages on offer as well; during my wife's treatment my daughter and I made our way to the The Playbarn, which is Auchrannie's soft play centre. Inside it's compact, but has everything you'd expect including a slide; there is also an outside area, which thanks to the rain belting down we couldn't make use of.

Arran has plenty of dedicated tourist activities, but the simpler things on the Isle of Arran, like going for a stroll or flying a kite on the beach, are perhaps the most enjoyable.