Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Kids of all ages love new park at Haddo

Rowan Moir plays at Haddo Country Park's new adventure playground
Rowan Moir plays at Haddo Country Park's new adventure playground

The team behind the £1.8million regeneration of an Aberdeenshire visitor attraction is revelling in its success so far.

Haddo Country Park, near Tarves, has been spruced up, with monuments and buildings refurbished, a new visitor centre opened and new paths and bridges installed.

But the most popular improvement so far is the new adventure playground, which has been keeping kids – big and little – entertained during the first week of the school holidays.

The play area, which features a zip-wire, climbing frames and slide, has been packed with happy families since it was officially opened.

Diana Spencer, visitor services officer at the park, said: “It’s been incredibly popular.

“It’s always full of people, some enjoying a picnic rather than playing. It seems to be the place everyone is going.”

The visitor centre is also gradually becoming a top stop-off point for more people, who can pick up information about particular wildlife to look out for as they walk around the grounds of Haddo House, or see what events are on.

Now the main capital works have been carried out, the team will focus on the second phase of the regeneration project – raising awareness of the country park as a destination for visitors of all ages from across the region.

Ms Spencer said: “We’re now looking at audience development, which involves holding different events and seeing what works.

“We want to get the word out to people who have not been to Haddo before. It’s not just for people for know it and have been coming here for years, we want to look at ways of getting new people to come out and see what we’re doing – elderly people, school groups, community groups.”

The project has been funded by various organisations, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council, and will continue running until the end of 2016.

More than 225,000 people visit the park each year, including more than 60,000 from outwith the local area.

On Saturday, visitors can find out more about the wildflowers that grow in the lakeside meadows at Haddo, learning not only how to identify them, but how to grow them. To book a place, or to find out more about the 2pm event, e-mail haddo@visithaddo.com or call 0844 493 2179.