Things to Do in Dumfries with Kids
Things to Do in Dumfries with Kids – The capital of Dumfries and Galloway is Dumfries town, which offers colourful fun days out plus LOTS of FREE activities to keep families occupied.
Dalscone Farm Fun – Things to Do in Dumfries with Kids
This is one of those places – take the kids and they’ll love you forever. Putting the animals aside (the goats, pigs, sheep and other farmyard favourites) Dalscone Farm is about fun. Kids veer between epic bumper boats (dodgems on water), a long yellow undulating slide (use a sack to go even faster), go karts, a self-pedal ‘farmari’ (a safari but with farm animals!), tubing, crazy golf and all sorts of playground equipment. Little ones build endlessly in a huge castle sandpit. Indoors are several soft play areas for toddlers and older children, and there’s a cafe too. The cakes look fab. It’s just a brilliant day out. Look out for feeding and animal handling sessions too. Dalsone isn’t cheap but the kids adore it, they run off loads of energy and you spend hours there – prices here.
Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura
FREE – Dumfries offers a variety of free museums so you may as well visit them all. The Dumfries Museum gives an overview of the area, from prehistoric times and early Christian times (featuring skeletons in a box) to strong tales of the suffragette movement. A lego trail, ticking off lego characters based on local historical figures, definitely entertained the kids. Characters included Dorothee Pullinger who helped design The Galloway, a car aimed to appeal to women (Go Dorothee!), suffragette Chris Fergusson, and surgeon Flora Murray who appears on the Scottish £100 note.
The Camera Obscura is at the top of the museum and incurs a small charge (currently £4 per adult, £2 per child). It is the world’s oldest working example of this scientific instrument and its use is weather dependent (avoid rain or high winds). A presenter explains how this rudimentary technology provides sweeping views right across Dumfries – visit key sites, fly over Dumfries’ streets and buildings, and see life in real time.
Robert Burns House
FREE – Part of the Dumfries’ Burns Trail Robert Burns House is an absolute gem of history. Children hunt down seven wee dolls hidden around the cottage, each one named after one of Burns’ children that lived in the house. There are also dressing up opportunities – dress just like Robert Burns! I was delighted to see a very humble ante room with a simple desk and chair within. This is where Burns wrote globally recognised works such as A Man’s a Man for Aa That, and My Love is Like a Red Red Rose. You don’t need elaborate decor to produce great work! Burns lived in this cottage from 1793, and passed away here on 21 July 1796 aged only 37. [If you want to get the whole story visit Ayr to show kids where it all started at Burns’ Birthplace Cottage.]
Burns Mausoleum and Jean Armour Statue
FREE Our children have visited Alloway’s Auld Haunted Kirk in the past, and, after seeing Robert Burns House where the poet died, they were equally happy to visit Dumfries‘ St Michael’s Kirkyard to see Burns’ rather grand mausoleum. The churchyard boasts a magnificent selection of sculptures and tombs but Burns’ white Grecian one is the grandest by far.
Step inside the church to see where Burns and his family worshiped. And across the road from the church is a statue to Burns’ long suffering wife Jean Armour. ‘Long suffering’ is an understatement — when she gave birth she was presented with another child Robert had conceived around the same time, and she looked after them both. Who has time for that?!
Burns Centre – Things to Do in Dumfries with Kids
FREE This free attraction has a riverside playground right outside it featuring a willow sculpture of a Belted Galloway cow, so good for a carrot and stick approach to sight seeing 🙂 Inside the Burns Centre there is lots of information about Burns’ links with Dumfries, but what worked well for my children was choosing Burns songs on a screen and listening to them being sang over a set of headphones. Poems are also read out loud. [This centre also has a lego trail – complete each trail at each museum to receive a sticker. My kids were covered in them!]
Old Bridge Museum & the Devorgilla Bridge
FREE The 1431 Devorgilla Bridge is named after the woman who commissioned it, Lady Devorgilla of Galloway, mother of King John Balliol. The bridge is so picturesque, a local photo opp for sure, and you just know that Burns must have crossed it many a time. Next to it, within a 17th century house is the Old Bridge House Museum. It’s tiny, so here my kids simply followed the lego trail, hunting down key characters from Dumfries’ history.
Where to Stay & Eat
The Cairndale Hotel is a gem firstly because it’s very relaxed, secondly it’s central with free parking and you can walk to all the attractions. Its luxury spa area has just undergone a £2 million facelift, and it’s looking incredible. The spa area is now an Adult Only space and includes a thermal pool, sauna, steam room, hammam and beauty treatments are available too. In terms of the rooms, they’re quite traditional but spacious with treats left for mini guests. And the food at Reivers Restaurant was notably good. Read a full review here.
We dined really well at Reivers on the first night, but popped out for pizza on our second night. Two pizzerias to recommend include Pizzeria Il Fiume at Dockpark (with a playground outside) and La Dolce Vita on Irish Street (closest to the hotel).
Other Activities – Things to Do in Dumfries with Kids
Other Dumfries locations we didn’t make it to so I can’t say whether they’re any good or value for money include Dino Park and Mabie Farm Park.
A Few Miles Away
Unsurprisingly my kids loved the chocolate workshop at the Cocoa Bean Factory. Plus, a surprise hit, was the former WW2 munitions factory The Devil’s Porridge – with a name like that you can’t help but ask questions. The National Trust for Scotland’s Threave Garden proved to be a calming oasis in Castle Douglas.
Getting Here – Yes, Dumfries has a railway station (that’s home to a regular Farmer’s Market) and Dumfries is served by Scottish bus companies. It’s a lovely compact town if you decide to travel by public transport.
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