Easy hikes and walks around Irvine

The paths through the park are best when dry a few days. Can get mucky in the shaded sections after rain.

The River the smallest of Ayrshire's six principal rivers, has its source on the southerly side of the Hill of Stake in the heart of the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park.

Gorgeous woodland through Eglinton Country Park with hints of bluebells in springtime.

Remains of a magnificent gothic mansion in North Ayrshire. It's a perfect spot for a runaround or a picnic with lots of open green space.

Nobel Industries Limited was founded in 1870 by Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel for the production of the new explosive dynamite in the United Kingdom. The factory was overseen and run by George McRoberts. McRoberts and John Downie raised the £24,000 needed to found the company rather than Nobel himself. It was chaired by the Glasgow shipbuilder, Charles Randolph (1809-1878). Ardeer, on the coast at Ayrshire, was chosen for the company's first factory. The business later diversified into the production of blasting gelatine, gelignite, ballistite, guncotton, and cordite. At its peak, the factory employed nearly 13,000 men and women. In 1926, the firm merged with Brunner, Mond & Company, the United Alkali Company, and the British Dyestuffs Corporation, creating a new group, Imperial Chemical Industries, then one of Britain's largest firms. Nobel Industries continued as the ICI Nobel division of the company. ICI Ardeer was commonly known locally as the 'factory' or the 'Dinnamite'. At the time the company generally provided higher quality employment regarding terms and conditions and pension rights than other local firms. At its peak, the site employed almost 13,000 workers in a fairly remote location. The Ardeer site was its own community with enough employees on site that a bank, a travel agency, and a dentist were located on the site. The former Western Scottish Bus Company provided tens of buses per day to transport the workers to and from the site, and there were even two trains per day to transport workers to a station within the factory which was used solely for workers and any special visitors with business in the ICI plant, and was never a regular passenger stop. Until the mid-1960s, there were two trains per day to transport workers. Although the line no longer serves the plant, the abandoned platform remains, hidden beneath dense undergrowth. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Enterprises

Plenty of space for kids to play.

Located within the visitor centre is our interpretative display on the history of Eglinton Country Park. It covers many aspects dating back to who held title of the land at the time of the Norman Conquest, through the years of expansion, improvement, and sadly its ultimate decline, right up to present day with details of the estates recovery and development towards country park status. Here you will also find advice and information from friendly staff and lots of local knowledge. The gift shop is also situated in the visitor centre and offers a variety of related gifts and souvenirs. They stock historical books, craft kits, ornaments and jewellery not to mention a wide selection of pencils and toys to keep the kids entertained.

When the foundation stone of the new Eglinton Castle in Kilwinning was laid in 1797, ‘Soldier Hugh’, the 12th Earl of Eglinton, was proud to have the ceremony performed by Alexander Hamilton of Grange, grandfather of the American Hero Alexander Hamilton who was to become one of the most influential Scots in American history. Hamilton’s family lived on the Estate of Grange which bordered on the Kilwinning lands at Stevenson, though he himself was born in the British colony of Nevis, located in the West Indies, his father being Scottish and his mother Huguenot. After serving bravely in the field as Captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery and as ADC to Washington, he went on to be one of the main authors of the Federalist essays - instrumental in the forming of the Constitution - he became the first US Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton developed an impressive and effective financial plan that created immediate faith in the government of the new nation. He drafted Washington’s Farewell Address, which after editing was delivered on September 19,1796. Hamilton named his house in New York (now a National Monument) “The Grange” after his family home