Chatelherault Country Park

A former hunting lodge for the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton and one of the few surviving buildings from the Hamilton estate. I say surviving but it underwent a pretty massive restoration process to get to the condition it is in today. Inside the building is a small museum, a shop and a café. There are formal gardens, trying to replicate the gardens of the lodge when it was used. What keeps me coming back to Chatelherault is the grounds.
The walks through the woods are beautiful, there are several different routes of varying lengths but if you haven’t already been you need to walk up to the Cadow Oaks. This trio of oak trees are at least 600 years old, 1000 by some accounts and it is a really special place.
The walk up there is lovely at any time of year, over gorges, rivers, past ruins and through amazing woodland. I would suggest wellies or something waterproof for your feet as it can get squelchy underfoot but there are good well maintained footpaths all the way and I think it’s pretty well signposted.

Beautiful park so much to see and so much to do and so well kept. Had a great morning with son and dog and footballs. Had a good walk played with the ball and spoke to other dog walkers. We then decided to go to the café for a wee snack. Son decided on soup — 2 choices went with the lentil and bacon with an added extra bread roll (u get one with soup) these were little poppy seed rolls that would have seriously injured someone if thrown — they did exchange them though but didn’t remove the other hard ones from the top!!! Coffee was served in what I would consider a basin — who needs a gallon of coffee. If the coffee was good we would not require as much. Ended up leaving the coffee and the soup and the lentils were still hard — have given four stars as the park is amazing and hopefully they were just having a bad day.

I love this place and have been coming here since I was a teenager on my mountain bike, nowadays, you’re more likely to find me walking my crazy chocolate Lab!
The variety of different walks on offer makes this place accessible to most, no matter how fit (or unfit) you are. Personally, I usually take the route past Cadzow Castle towards the ancient oaks and onwards to the Green Bridge and loop back to the ‘house’. This 8 KM route *almost* tires out my dog. But there are other shorter alternatives and many that run parallel to the Avon water. All worth exploring — but maybe not on the same day.
The Hunting Lodge itself is worth a visit. Designed by William Adam and built by the Dukes of Hamilton as a Summer house and hunting lodge. It has been restored and has a noticeable ‘slope’ caused by quarrying. It’s just a pity the original Hamilton Palace is no longer at the end of the avenue of trees, which leads towards Hamilton town centre, from the bottom of the hill at the Hunting Lodge.

Chatelherault is a lovely old glamorous hunting lodge which was refurbished and is now open to the public. There is a great kids area at the front with tunnels to crawl through and insects and creepy crawlies to identify! There is an informative video on the refurbishment which is worth a watch, plus some stuffed cows which are a special breed native to the region. In the old house you may feel a little drunk! The rooms are lovely and very stately, with great views over the extensive park. The gift shop and the tea shop are also worth a mention — they are better than most and good value for money. The house and gardens are free and appeal to all ages.

Chatelherault Country Park is well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Situated just a couple of miles from Hamilton town Centre, it is a tourist attraction for all the family, no matter what the weather.
If you visit on a fine weather day, as well as the immediate grounds of the museum, there are some beautiful walks along breathtaking ‘nature trails’.
In addition, at the back of the museum there are beautiful gardens which house a maze and at the front of the building there are huge ‘playing’ fields, which are great if you visit as part of a group — you can even have a BBQ if you like!
If the weather deteriorates while you are there but you still want to have a BBQ, there’s even a wet weather area you can use which is basically like a giant permament Gazebo.
The museum itself is worth visiting and doesn’t cost you a penny to look arond — bonus!
Also, if you get thirsty/​hungry while you’re there, there’s a charming coffee shop with friendly staff.
In the summer, watch out though — the museum is a popular venue for weddings.

lovelt place to visit for a few hours with kids. has a garden centre with small animal farm out back of it and a café inside, also has a dog wash which is handy, as you can then let it run about to dry off. has an adventure type swing park for kids which keeps them amused for a couple of hours, there is a big nature walk through the hundreds of trees behind the big house, cant say what it is like inside house as i have never been in it, but it is very beautiful from the outside, just what you would expect from a country house. i have seen a few weddings taking place here when i was here with kids and it would be a beautiful place to have wedding photos done for your album, all lights up in the evening and you can see it from miles away

I like this park as it offers large areas of grass for you to enjoy a picnic and let the children run around freely. There are some picnic tables. There is a really good play area and there is plenty of car parking. The house has is open to the public and is popular with those getting married to have their photographs taken here. When you go into the house you may get a strange feeling regarding the floor thats all i am going to say!!! There is also a visitor centre which is also worth a visit as is the garden centre selling plants etc. This is a nice place for the whole family to go.

Chatelherault is one of these places where there is something for all the family. Outside there are vast gardens with gentle walks that can be taken for those who are more active. There is also a play area for children and a garden centre close to the entrance of the grounds. Further up is disabled parking close to the house, which boasts a nice little coffee shop on one side, visitor’s shop on the other and an exhibition of what life used to be like fills the centre area between the two. Exhibitions are put on regularly and the house itself is well worth looking round with information available on plaques, or from a guide. This is well worth a visit.