TERRAIN: Fine gravel footpaths, mostly flat with some gentle hills. No gates, stiles or steps.
Dog-friendly route
Buggy-friendly route
GETTING THERE: There is a small parking area at the war memorial on Main Street, Dailly. Local bus services also stop here.
View full route description
Start at the war memorial on Main Street, Dailly. With your back to the memorial, turn left along Main Street. Look for a lane between house nos 84 and 88 Main Street – turn right here. The lane soon ends at a grassy area – cross straight over the grass to reach a gravel footpath. Turn right. Cross a footbridge on your left then follow the footpath round to the right. At a fork keep left, as indicated by the coloured directional arrows.
You will soon see Old Dalquharran Castle come into view. Beside the old castle, keep left at a fork to walk through a wooded area. After approx 300m a track on your right takes you to the ‘new’ Dalquharran Castle for a closer look. Return to the main path when you’re ready and turn right to continue gently uphill.
After approx 500m you’ll come to a fork with a gate ahead – keep right (walking away from the gate), still following the red and yellow coloured arrows. This path curves around to the other (north) side of ‘new’ Dalquharran Castle. At a fork where the coloured arrows split keep left to follow the red one. This path climbs gently uphill and offers fine views down to Dailly and the surrounding hills and farmland. There is a lovely curved feature bench and some telescopes beside the path!
After approx 1km of high level walking, turn right at a fork (straight ahead you’ll see a metal gate and a railway bridge) to go downhill and along a scenic lower-level footpath with fine views across the neighbouring crop fields.
As you come almost in line with ‘new’ Dalquharran Castle again, keep left at the fork. This path brings you out at Old Dalquharran Castle from where you can re-trace your steps to the war memorial.
WALK REPORT – 19th May 2024
Arriving at the small parking area beside the war memorial we were immediately met by a smiling local who, able to tell we were off on a hike, was keen to help in any way they could. My burning question, ‘Is it possible to walk from Dailly to Bargany Gardens?’, was answered with confirmation and some directions, however she then chased after us to let us know that having checked with someone else the path was likely to be overgrown at present and bulls possibly in the field….
I’d always driven to Bargany Gardens in the past but had been researching options for walking there this year. Looking at my various maps, the only potential route I had found cut across the local golf course and relied on there being a path at one section where one wasn’t shown on the map…. If it had just been me I’d have taken the gamble but I was with a group today so decided on the safer option…
Plan B: check out the new path network I’d heard about in the Dalquharran Estate, join that up with the Kilgrammie Trail which I had also never walked before, and then jump in the car 5 minutes along the road to pay my annual visit to Bargany Gardens.
A large map at the Estate entrance informed us that the Dalquharran Walks were comprised of a 1.2km (purple) route, a 3.5km (yellow) route, and a 5.5km (red) route. We chose to follow a combination of the yellow and red walks to pass both the Old Dalquharran Castle and the ‘new’ Dalquharran Castle along the way.
The routes are well way-marked with wooden posts displaying large coloured arrows for each trail. The paths are constructed of fine gravel, making the network a great option for bikes, buggies and wheelchairs too. The accessibility of the Estate has been made possible thanks to investment by current owners the Cairnhill Group, itself owned by a local family who have lived and worked in the community for five generations.
We experienced a mixture of ancient woodland and more open areas, historic buildings, an abundance of wild flowers, colourful Rhododendron bushes, and misty morning views across the rural South Ayrshire countryside. The telescopes at the highest point were a real surprise, and even better that you didn’t need a coin to operate them!
We were also lucky to spot lots of wildlife in the Estate, including many birds, butterflies, caterpillars, roe deer, and a little vole which wasn’t phased by our presence at all, continuing to nibble on its blade of grass as we surrounded it for a better look. Super cute!
Whilst at the north-west side of the Dalquharran Estate, close to the road, we nipped out to explore the Kilgrammie Trail as planned (another new route description coming soon!) before jumping in the car to pay our annual visit to Bargany Gardens, only open to the public in May. All in all a fantastic day out!
