First impressions can be misleading and most visitors’ first sight of Glasgow’s southern parts will be less than uplifting as they head in from the airport past a great swathe of industrial units and warehouses. South of the River Clyde is a part of Glasgow largely unknown to most tourists, except perhaps for the Gorbals, a name once synoymous with urban violence, but now more likely to enervate rather than inspire fear. Venture further south and you enter a different world: the sedate suburbs and parks of South Side. Here you’ll find two of the city’s most notable attractions, the Burrell Collection and Pollok House, both set in the sylvan surrounds of Pollok Country Park. There are other reasons to venture south of the river, not least of which is Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston Park. Further east is another stop on the Mackintosh trail, the Scotland Street School Museum, and to the south, in Cathcart, is Holmwood House, Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s architectural masterpiece, which stands overlooking the White Cart, another of the city’s bucolic waterways. Scotland Street School Museum 225 Scotland St, T 0141-287 0500, http://www.glasgowmuseums.com">http://www.glasgowmuseums.com. Mon-Thu 1000-1700, Fri-Sun 1100-1700. Free. Take the underground to Shields Rd, or buses 89, 90, 96 and 97 from the city centre. Directly opposite Shields Road Underground station is another of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s great works, the Scotland Street School, which opened in 1906 and closed in 1979. The entire school has been preserved as a museum of education and offers a wonderfully evocative experience. There’s a fascinating collection of school memorabilia and reconstructed classrooms dating from Victorian times up to the 1960s, as well as changing rooms, a science room and headmaster’s office. This is the most modern of Mackintosh’s buildings and is notable for its semi-cylindrical glass stairtowers, the magnificent tiled entrance hall and its customary mastery of the interplay of light and space. The school was recently refurbished and new facilities have been introduced, including a lift, an audiovisual theatre and computer activities for children. There’s also a café, but don’t worry, they don’t serve authentic school food. Govan Old Parish Church 840 Govan Rd, T 0141-445 1941. 1st Wed in Jun to 3rd Sat in Sep, Wed 1030-1230, Wed, Thu, Sat 1300-1600, other times by appointment. Free. Take the Underground to Govan. On Govan Road, close to Govan Underground station, is one of Govan’s forgotten sights. This old church is worth seeking out. Not only does it stand on an ancient Christian site, but it also has a unique collection of carved stones dating back to the 9th century. There’s also a sarcophagus which is covered in fine carvings, and a good collection of stained-glass windows. Nearby is one of the city’s other religious centres, Ibrox, home to the Glasgow Rangers. House for an Art Lover Bellahouston Park, T 0141-353 4770, http://www.houseforanartlover.co.uk Apr-Sep Mon-Wed 1000-1600, Thu-Sun 1000-1300; Oct-Mar Sat-Sun 1000-1300. Call for weekday access times. £3.50, £2.50 concession. Take the Underground to Ibrox station and walk (15 mins), or bus No 9 from Hope St or the No 57 bus from Union St or Jamaica St. A short distance from Ibrox Stadium, across the M8 motorway, is Bellahouston Park, site of the most recent addition to the Charles Rennie Mackintosh trail, the House for an Art Lover. The building was designed in 1901 as an entry to a competition run by a German design magazine, the brief being to create a lavish country house for an art lover. The interior and exterior had to be a coherent work of art. Building never went ahead during Mackintosh’s lifetime and it was not until 1989 that construction began, in accordance with his original drawings. The building was not completed until 1996, when it became a centre for Glasgow School of Art postgraduate students, though a number of rooms on the lower floor are open to the public. Mackintosh worked closely with his wife on the design of the house and there is distinctive evidence of her influence, especially in the exquisite Music Room with its elaborate symbolism, particularly the rose motif, which is used throughout. But though the detail is, as ever, intense, the overall effect is one of space and light. The exterior of the house is equally impressive and totally original. On the ground floor is an excellent café, which is popular with locals. The Burrell Collection Pollok Country Park, T 0141-287 2550, http://www.glasgowmuseums.com">http://www.glasgowmuseums.com. Mon-Thu and Sat 1000-1700, Fri and Sun 1100-1700. Free. Buses 45, 48A and 57 from the city centre (Union St) pass the park gates on Pollokshaws Rd, also buses 34 and 34A from Govan Underground station. From the gates it’s a 10-min walk to the gallery, or there's a twice-hourly bus. There are also trains from Central Station to Pollok- shaws West station. A taxi from the city centre costs £6-7. Car parking at the Burrell Collection costs £1.50. Three miles southwest of the city centre this is Glasgow’s top attraction and a must on any visit. It stands in the extensive wooded parklands of Pollok Country Park. The magnificent collection contains some 8,500 art treasures, donated to the city in 1944 by the shipping magnate William Burrell (1861-1958), who sold his shipping interests in order to devote the remainder of his life to collecting art. He began collecting in the 1880s, and in 1917 bought Hutton Castle near Berwick-on-Tweed to house his collection. There it stayed, even after his bequest to the city, as he stipulated that all the works in his collection be housed in one building in a rural setting – since he was concerned about the possible damage caused by the pollution that then blackened Glasgow. It wasn’t until the Clean Air Act of the 1960s and the council’s acquisition of Pollok Park, that a suitable site was found and the modern, award-winning gallery could be built – with £450,000 donated by Burrell. The building opened to the public in 1983. The collection includes ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts, a huge number of oriental art pieces, and numerous works of medieval and post-medieval European art, including tapestries, silverware, stained-glass, textiles, sculpture and exquisitely lit stained glass. The tapestries are particularly fine and date from the late 15th and 16th centuries. There’s also an impressive array of paintings by Rembrandt, Degas, Pissaro, Bellini and Manet amongst many others. Look out too for Rodin’s famous sculpture The Thinker. The gallery is a stunning work of simplicity and thoughtful design, which allows the visitor to enjoy this vast collection to the full. The large, floor-to-ceiling windows afford sweeping views over the surrounding woodland and allow a flood of natural light to enhance the treasures on view. Some sections of the gallery are reconstructions of rooms from Hutton Castle and incorporated into the structure are carved stone Romanesque doors. There’s also a café and restaurant on the lower ground floor. Pollok House and Country Park T 0141-616 6410, http://www.nts.org.uk">http://www.nts.org.uk Daily 1000-1700. £5, £3.75 child/concession. Nov-Mar free. Entry to the park is from Pollokshaws Rd, or Haggs Rd if you’re on foot. Car parking is at the Burrell Collection and costs £1.50. T0141-632 9299. Also in Pollok Country Park, a 10-minute walk from the Burrell, is Pollok House, designed by William Adam and completed in 1752. This was once the home of the Maxwell family, who owned most of southern Glasgow until well into the last century. It contains one of the best collections of Spanish paintings in Britain, including works by Goya, El Greco and Murillo. There are also paintings by William Blake, as well as glass, silverware, porcelain and furniture. The most interesting part of the house, however, are the servants’ quarters downstairs, which give you a real insight into life ‘below stairs’, with rows of bells waiting to summon servants to any part of the house. There’s a good tearoom in the old kitchens. If the weather’s fine, the park is worth exploring. There are numerous trails throughout the woods and meadows and guided walks with the countryside rangers, who are located in the grounds. Most of the routes start from the free car park at Pollok House. You can wander to your heart’s content and eventually you’re bound to end up back where you started. There are two golf courses within the park grounds, as well as a herd of highland cattle. Queen’s ParkTake a train from Central Station to Queen’s Park, then it’s a 5-min walk down Victoria Rd to the gates on Queen’s Dr. To the east of Pollok Country Park, by Pollokshaws Road, is Queen’s Park, named after Mary, Queen of Scots, whose reign ended after defeat here at the Battle of Langside, in 1568. A memorial outside the park marks the site of the battle. It’s a pleasant place for a stroll and the views north across the city make it even more enjoyable. Scottish Football Museum Hampden Park, T 0141-616 6139, http://www.scottishfootballmuseum.com. Mon-Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1100-1700. £5, £2.50 concession. Tour of the stadium £2.50 (£5 if not visiting museum). Regular trains to Mount Florida station from Central station (turn left out of station and head straight downhill till you see the stadium; there are no signs. Buses 5, 7, 12, 31, 37, 75, 89, 90 or 44A. South of Queen’s Park, in Mount Florida, is Hampden Park, home of Scottish footbal of 135,000. When full, as was often the case, the famous ‘Hampden roar’ could be heard for miles around. Nowadays, the capacity is a mere 52,000. Hampden is also the home of the new Scottish Football Museum, which describes the history of the game in Scotland. This may strike some as a rather masochistic idea given some of the more infamous and embarrassing episodes, but there have been highs (Wembley ’67 and Lisbon ’69) as well as lows (Wembley ’66 and Argentina ’78). The museum is very large and includes a huge range of football memorabilia. It manages to avoid the obvious pitfall of overloading on Celtic and Rangers to the exclusion of all else and presents a very balanced view of Scottish football through the years. Most interesting are the more obscure details and the audio sets relating strories from players and fans (in particular the one about the Celtic supporters burning parts of their bus to keep warm on the long trip north to Aberdeen). It’s all here, from the minutes of the very first meeting of Queen’s Park, Scotland’s first football club – dated 9th July 1867 – to advertising on team shirts. You can also get a guided tour of Hampden Park. Holmwood House61-63 Netherlee Rd, Cathcart, T 0141-637 2129, http://www.nts.org.uk">http://www.nts.org.uk. Easter-31 Oct, daily 1330-1730, but access may be restricted at certain times; phone first. £3.50, £2.60 child/concession. Trains every ½ hr to Cathcart from Central Station, or take bus 44A or 44D from Sauchiehall St, or 66 from Argyle St opposite St Enoch Centre, to Cathcart Bridge, next to the train station. From the bridge turn onto Rhannon Rd and walk up it for 10 mins till you see the sign for Holmwood. Holmwood House was designed by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, Glasgow’s greatest Victorian architect, who is now internationally recognised as one of Scotland’s most original designers. Thomson was a brilliant exponent of the Greek Revival and his achievement at Holmwood was described as thus, by architect Thomas Gildard in 1888: “If architecture be poetry in stone and lime – a great temple an epic – this exquisite little gem, at once classic and picturesque, is as complete, self-contained and polished as a sonnet”. The building is a work of genuine originality and has become a monument of international importance, as Thomson was the first modern architect to apply a Greek style to a free, asymmetrical composition. The house also includes features reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright, which pre-date the great American architect by some 40 years. Thomson, like Robert Adam before him and Charles Rennie Mackintosh afterwards, exerted complete control over the interiors as well as the exterior. He designed everything in the house and conservation work is revealing very beautiful and elaborate stencilled decoration and friezes with Greek motifs. The house was built for James Couper, a paper manufacturer, between 1857 and 1858, at a cost of £3,600. After Couper’s death in 1877, Holmwood remained in possession of his trustees until 1909, when it was sold to a Mrs Anne Smith or Simpson. It has had several owners since, the most recent prior to the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) being The Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, who acquired the house in 1858 and turned it into a primary school. In 1967, the local education authority took over the management of the school, until its eventual closure in 1992. The sisters moved to other premises and granted an option over the property to a developer, who proposed the construction of 93 flats and houses in the grounds. This caused concern and, thanks to the strong opposition of the newly formed Alexander Thomson Society, Glasgow City Council refused planning permission, to their eternal credit. The developer withdrew from their option, thus enabling the NTS to acquire the house in 1994. The Trust embarked on an extensive conservation project, with financial help from various sources, and Holmwood was opened to the public in 1998. Work is ongoing and it will take several years to fully restore Holmwood to its former glory. The grounds of Holmwood slope gently down to the wooded valley of White Cart Water and are dominated by some magnificent sequoia trees. It’s the perfect spot for a picnic. A lovely walk – described below – follows the river as it flows through Linn Park. White Cart Nearest train station Cathcart The grounds of Holmwood look across the White Cart Water, one of the South Side’s rural waterways, which flows through the middle of Linn Park. The park gets its name from the linn, or waterfall, over which the river cascades on its route through the lovely wooded glen towards Snuff Mill Bridge. A riverside walkway follows the White Cart through the park and can be joined at several points along its length. A convenient starting point for those visiting Holmwood is Snuff Mill Bridge, on Snuff Mill Road, which is only a five-minute walk from Cathcart station and can be reached by turning off Rhannon Road. Snuff Mill Bridge dates from the 18th century and at one time was the only crossing of White Cart Water, carrying the main road from Glasgow to Ayr. On the opposite bank is the grain mill, which was built in the 18th century, then switched production to cardboard in 1812, and two years later, to snuff milling. The original mill has long gone and some of the later buildings have been coverted into flats. From the bridge, a flight of steps leads into Linn Park. Follow the path, with the river on your left, then cross Millholm Road and the paths drops closer to the river. Wildlife is abundant here and you’re likely to see kingfishers, wood pigeons, chaffinches, grey squirrels, wood mice, kestrels, dippers and rabbits, to name but a few. The path passes the site of the old Millholm Paper Mill, which was owned by the Robert Couper and his brother James, who had Holmwood House designed for him by ‘Greek’ Thomson. The path continues through the wooded glen to reach Halfpenny Bridge, passing the linn which can be heard long before it’s seen when the river is in spate. Cross the river by the pretty bridge, also called the White Bridge, which is said to get its name from the decorative circular holes in the spans. Once across the river, head along an avenue of lime trees to reach Linn House, the mansion built as a summer home for the Campbell family. The park’s countryside rangers are now based in the house. Head north from here along a tarmac road, with the golf course up on the right. After about 300 yards the road swings round to the right; here you should follow the tarmac path which leads down to the river. The path first runs downhill, then changes to a gravel surface past a grassy area. It then heads through woods before reaching Snuff Mill Road, which leads you back to Snuff Mill Bridge.
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