Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre

The last paddle steamer built in Britain - twice! Launched in 1953, she was first built in Glasgow then split into sections for transport and re-assembly at the loch. (This was a common system in the 19th and early 20th century to place ships on lakes and distant rivers.) She plied the loch until 1981 but then ship and pier facilities fell into disrepair. A volunteer group restored her as a static attraction in 2000, but it has not been possible to sail her again. Interiors and livery have been returned to their 1950s condition, the engines are occasionally in steam, and an auxiliary motor slowly turns the paddles for effect. So the paintwork and brasses gleam but a full restoration would require an expensive and hazardous process of hoisting her out of the water and trucking her to dry-dock, which could terminate her elderly life. (The last attempt in 2019 ended with an inglorious splash when the old bezom refused to be hoisted.) There's a tearoom aboard. The Maid is often booked for private functions.

A 200-acre park with woodlands, open areas and walking routes, its highlights being the formal Walled Garden and Chinese Garden, and tree-framed vistas of the loch: the rhododendrons and azaleas are glorious in May and June. It's also used as venue for events such as music festivals and the annual Highland Games. It surrounds Balloch Castle, which is derelict and not open to the public. This was built in 1808/09 in Tudor Gothic style, all make-believe turrets and cod-castellations, by the Buchanan family who'd made their money from hats. They obliterated the 13th-century castle of the Earls of Lennox; a few earth mounds and ditches are all that's left to see, while on the nearby island of Inchmurrin a few stumps remain of the Lennox's 14th-century castle. The park passed into public ownership in 1915.