[Written by Hannah Lane]
[Illustration by Grace Elder]
Grain and Grind
First stop is a relaxed coffee shop located in Battlefield in Glasgow’s Southside. From Mount Florida station – which doesn’t take long to travel to from Central – Grain and Grind is just a short walk. The all-day café have a focus on grains – including several waffle dishes on their brunch menu and fresh bread for sale – and coffee. They also stock homemade doughnuts on Saturdays and Sundays, which are amazing! The interiors are relaxed and modern and the food is lovely, so this is somewhere really nice to go for a few hours if you want to get away from the West End!
Queens Park Glasshouses
Walking from Grain and Grind to Queens park via Battlefield road takes only a few minutes. Entering the park, you can choose to walk up to the Glasshouses, which contain plants and flowers similar to those in the Botanic Gardens. There is also a room full of reptiles, birds and spiders, as well as a fish pond. This is something a bit different to do and it’s completely free as well!
Queens Park Lookout Point
In the middle of the park is a small hill, where you can get amazing views of Glasgow, being able to see the city centre and the West End. You can see the University building and the library! During one visit the weather was sunny yet spitting rain, and from the viewpoint we could see a bright rainbow arching over the entire city! There are also lots of picnic benches around, so the park would be nice to go on a sunny day with a picnic.
Walk to Queens Park Station
Exiting the park onto Langside Road and heading towards Queens Park Station, you pass some impressive looking tenement buildings, some of which have doors painted bright purple and blue colours. Turning onto Victoria road, Queens Park Station is on the left, and the train back to central takes only a couple of minutes!
