Wilton Lodge Park

Hawick’s Wilton Lodge Park is one of the most picturesque town parks in Scotland and has been a popular location for local people and visitors to enjoy for over a century. Around 250,000 people visit the 107-acre park each year and with its wide-ranging facilities having been enhanced as part of a £3.64million regeneration scheme supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Scottish Borders Council, and it is expected that number will increase further. The regeneration scheme has included the opening of the new Elliot Bandstand which has hosted a number of concerts and performances as part of the Wilton Lodge Park summer series of events, as well as a refurbished Walled Garden which is maintained by volunteers who won an award for their work. The new play park is one of the most impressive in the South of Scotland and has proved hugely popular with children of all ages enjoying the facilities on offer, while a series of cycle path improvements have taken place with additional funding being provided by SUSTRANS, as well as the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places fund to promote cycling. Hawick Museum, which sits within the park, has a new park gallery as part of the regeneration scheme, while a new café was opened in February 2018, alongside the McLaren Bridge, named after the famous Hawick rugby commentator Bill McLaren, who also has a statue in the park. A waterfall walk was upgraded and outdoor classroom created, while a number of the unique shelters, fountains and memorials within the park have also been refurbished. The improvements have been positively received by visitors with online reviews rating Wilton Lodge Park a top visitor attraction for the whole family.