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The Magnum Leisure Centre is Irvine
Beach Park’s main attraction.
The centre has vast car parking
facilities free of charge. Some of
the facilities are ice skating
summer/ curling winter, swimming,
bowls, football, gymnasium and much
more. For a full list of facilities
visit the website www.themagnum.co.uk.
You can just turn up and use many
of the facilities for a small
charge or book in advance any
specific facility through the
website.
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Left is a view of Irvine’s
vast Beach Park with a lake that is
ideal for remote control boats and
area for skateboarding, cycle lanes
run throughout the park. The park
seems to run for miles with parking
facilities for thousands of cars
free of charge. There are three
traditional Scottish pubs close to
the Magnum popular for drinks and
meals.
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Right is the long sandy beach
with great views over the Firth of
Clyde and Island of Arran. This
view shows the beach with small car
park that sits out on the pier.
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The Scottish Maritime Museum on
Montgomery Street is situated a few
hundred yards upriver from the
Magnum. Tours start from the main
building and take in restored
vessels moored along the harbour
and larger vessels in dock. Inside
the main building of the museum is
a collection of small vessels and
different types of marine engines.
There are three restored vessels
along the quay that you can visit.
These vessels however are sometimes
away on tours or in dock being
repaired. Prices for the museum are
around £2.50 for adults or
£5 for families. Tickets for
the museum also allow concessions
for visiting the Clydebuilt Museum
at Braehead/Glasgow or the Denny
Ship Model Experiment
Tank/Dumbarton.
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West of Irvine’s train
station is the Beach Park and to
the east as seen in the picture
right is the Rivergate shopping
complex and Retail Park. This is
now the busiest part of Irvine as
there is free parking for thousands
of cars and a variety of shops that
sell everything from bread to a
fitted kitchen.
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Left is a view of the Rivergate
shopping complex as it crosses
River Irvine leading towards the
town centre.
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After crossing the river, there
is an exit from the centre that
leads to a park on the east side of
the river. Right is a view of an
old church in the east side park.
This impressive looking building is
boarded up at the moment and there
are no signs saying what it is or
if there is any work intended to
restore or convert the
building.
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Left is a view of Irvine High
Street looking east towards
Kilmarnock. West leads to
Kilwinning Road, Eglinton Country
Park, Kilwinning, Ardrossan and
Largs.
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Eglinton Country Park is situated about one
mile northeast of Irvine. It is open to the public
free of charge all year round. There is a visitor
centre, tea house, children's play areas and many
scenic walks in the park.
Eglinton estate along with the
town of Ardrossan passed from the
Eglinton’s to the
Montgomery’s though marriage
in the 1300s. The
Montgomery’s were forced to
abandon Eglinton Castle and estate
in 1929 after loosing all their
money building Ardrossan Harbour.
The castle soon fell into disrepair
and was later used as target
practice for tanks during World War
Two.
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Western Gailes golf course is a challenging
6,639-yard par 74 used for Open qualifying. This
is the most testing and well-known of the 5 golf
courses in Irvine. A really challenging links
course with all holes being right next to the
sea.
Further information on this course can be found
at the website: www.westerngailes.com.
For all Irvine Golf Courses,
visit: www.ayrshirescotland.com/ayrshiregolf
For more information on Irvine
and its history visit the website
www.irvineayrshire.org.
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