Rouken Glen Park

Opened in 1906, Rouken Glen Park is one of the West of Scotland's most popular and best loved parks. East Renfrewshire Council is responsible for the park's development, upkeep and maintenance. The park never closes and is open 365 days a year. The park offers visitors a wealth of attractions from its wide open spaces, pond, waterfall, glen and walled garden. Today Rouken Glen with its 143 acres (58 hectares) is one of the largest public parks in Scotland.

It was awarded a Four Star Visitor Scotland rating in 2014 and has achieved Green Flag Status for the last ten plus years. It was recently voted the second best free visitor attraction in Scotland and on the Top 50 free visitor attraction list in the United Kingdom.

In 2019 over 1 million visitors came through the gates to visit the park and use many of the free facilities, participate in organised activities and events and enjoy the use of the vast well maintained grounds. The park also has an 11 piece outdoor gym, skate park, table tennis tables, small basketball court and a newly installed Tennis Court which are all free to use.

Over any given year there are usually a variety of large events organised in the park. These have included Highland Games; Tartan Day; The annual 5 and 10k run; Electric Glen; Gala Days; and various other large events as well as smaller activities arranged by the Activities Staff.

For many years Rouken Glen Park has been used as a location by film production companies and TV programme makers. Scenes from Train spotting, Shallow Grave, Rab C Nesbitt, Still Game, Chewing the Fat and Taggart have also been filmed in the park.

The park has recently been redeveloped with the aid of Heritage Lottery Funding. There have been five major projects taking place in the park. They are: the new Glen Path Walkway; re-landscaped Walled Garden; re-development of the Boating Pond and the brand new state of the art children’s Play Area.

The newly refurbished Pavilion houses The Story of Rouken Glen Park exhibition. The exhibition features the people, geology and ecology of the park and includes archive film, old photographs, a collection of rocks and fossils, models of the park and plant and bird specimens. The display contains many items not seen before and includes information made public for the first time. The centre piece of the exhibition is the celtic Capelrig Cross.

The Pavilion Visitor Centre is also home to the park’s Ranger Service.

Overall Rouken Glen Park provides a great day out and whatever you like to do on your visit, we are sure there is something for everyone at one of Scotland’s favourite parks.