Outdoors: Vogrie Country Park

If you are in need of somewhere to run off some of the children's steam, Vogrie Country Park may be just the ticket. Vogrie is a Victorian estate complete with baronial-style house, which is now run by Midlothian council. With acres of landscaped parkland, woods and wilderness, it is ideal for a family to explore.

Depending on how much energy you have, you can choose from several different routes. We love the blue route, wending our way to the adventure playground via the rookery and pond. The path takes you through the North woods and rookery, with its mixture of ash and sycamore. It is amazing to gaze up at the rook aerobatics, and their caw-cawing is quite eerie.

Our girls never tire of hide and seek, and there are a couple of really old yew trees which we always have to stop and investigate, as their cavernous trunks make the most spectacular dens.

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Most of the paths are suitable for buggies, which is great if you have really young ones, plus there are signposts which direct you back to the house and, most importantly, to the adventure playground. Wellies and old clothes are a must if you want to do a spot of pond dipping in one of the three ponds. We rarely make it back without a slightly damp pond casualty. There are a host of frogs and tadpoles, water boatmen, bugs and other creepy crawlies to scoop out of the pond for closer inspection, and in summer damselflies buzz around like flying jewels.

The playground is really great. Our two love the stainless steel twisty slide, but there is an embarassment of riches in terms of play equipment; a flying fox and a circle of swings and a separate area for tinies so they don't get knocked over by the bigger ones. There are a couple of climbing frames, but my favourite is the huge net the children climb into. I always feel a bit like the child catcher as I spin them around really fast.

If your energy levels are flagging, there is a basic cafe, complete with a small soft-play area, in the house. But why not pre-hire one of the two BBQ areas and make a real day of it?

The arrangements are practical for a Scottish summer; there's a covered hut, a bit like Hagrid's house, to huddle against the worst that a wet June can throw at you.

On the way back to the car park make sure you check out the huge blue and red chair sculptures near the main drive, and the giant white tricycle. Our lot always argue over who gets to climb on which chair, which I take as the signal that it is time to go before war breaks out. All that fresh air means there are rosy cheeks all round. That's what I call a grand day out.

Park grounds open dawn till dusk with a small charge for parking. For more information see www.midlothian.gov.uk

Barbecue areas must be booked seven days in advance, tel: 0131-663 1103.

• This article was first published in The Scotsman on Saturday, June 12, 2010