What's on in the area

Blair Drummond Safari & Adventure Park

Mar - Oct 2009 (annual)

Cost: £10; 3-14 yrs, seniors & people with special needs £6.50; carers £2; under 3s free

Hours: 10.30am-5.30pm; last entry 4.30pm

At Blair Drummond Safari Park visitors can drive through parkland populated with giraffes, elephants (the only ones in Scotland), rhinos, zebra and antelope as well as bison, camels, deer and ostriches.

Separately enclosed (for obvious reasons) are both the lion pack and the park's tigers, while the chimpanzees have their own summer home on an island. There are more activities in the adventure park and no fewer than four sea lion shows a day!

Opened in 1970, Blair Drummond was one of Scotland's first, and remains one of the foremost, safari parks. Alongside the big animals there are a pets farm, falconry displays and boat trips to chimpanzee island. Other activities for the kids include a flying fox (a wire suspended over the lake which brave souls can descend on!), five-seater pedal boats and a giant astraglide.

The late-Victorian house of Blair Drummond, which was bought in 1916 by Glasgow tea merchant, Sir John Kay, was not the first house on the site. There was a manor house built in 1715 on what is now the giraffe enclosure, and most of the trees and landscaping was laid down in the early 18th century. The present house was handed down to Sir John's nephew Sir John Muir, whose son Jamie is still the present owner, although since 1977 the main house has been a centre for the Camphill Trust, a handicapped caring charity.

Blair Drummond Safari & Adventure Park