Just 10 minutes' drive from the city centre is the Dumbreck Outdoor Playbarn - a place that became an escape from reality for Glasgow kids and their parents during lockdown and a 'feast for the imagination' of youngsters.
So much was the clamor from children to spend their afternoons there when other activities had been shut down, sessions were often booked out within 30 minutes of opening up online.
The all-weather space, which was previously used as horses' stables, opened to the public as recently as September 2020, after it had initially been set up by owner Claire Bell's young daughter and her friends to 'express their creativity'.
Yet some people still don't know about the beautiful barn, found just on the boundary of Pollok Park, in a setting which feels seemingly hundreds of miles from the centre of Glasgow, surrounded by nature in the middle of the countryside.
So we took the short trip out to Dumbreck this week to meet with Claire and find out what it's all about - and ask why under 5s keep demanding their parents bring them back for more.
How would you describe it?
"It's an outdoor playbarn on the edge of Pollok Park aimed at small children while their creativity is allowed to express itself.
"There's lots of roleplay toys, outdoor water play, loose parts play where you have bits of old pipe, old tyres, and bits of gutter, with the idea that kids can make things into toys as well. There are cars to push around, sandpits to play with, chalk to draw with - if you look at the Play Scotland website, we kind of have all of the things that are considered in the realm of childhood.
"It's about the kids expressing themselves through roleplay, making their own games and toys and making their own art - and there's dressing up too!
"It's a bit of a feast for the imagination!"
To have a look around the Playbarn, click on our gallery below:
What can kids find there?
"It's changed so much since we opened during lockdown. In the beginning it was just something for my own daughter and my friends.
"I just went around the stableyard and grabbed the stuff I could see lying about that I could make into something like old tyres, we had my daughter's trampoline, our swing, and my own daughter's stuff.
"Now we've got a new trampoline, treehouse, balancing balls, more water play, the fire station, the hospital, the police station.
"Then there's the rainbow bell tent field, open April to September, which has football, croquet, swingball, hula hoops, another mud kitchen, another little shop, tables, and chairs.
"We operate in nearly all weathers and it's worked really well. In fact, if it's raining, the children just put on their puddle suits and their wellies!
"We're constantly thinking about changing it, shifting it and making it more interesting, seeing how the children play and responding to them.
"I think the children know it's for them."
Where do you get all the toys from?
"There's a carwash we made out of pallets and old bits of fabric, the police station is made out of my daughter's cot, the hospital is made out of a hospital bed. We're just about to turn my daughter's old changing table into a red London bus.
"We take everything and refashion it and I think that's what you're showing children, how things can become something else. That's what you have to learn about in childhood, creativity and how to fix broken things, to see the world-changing and give them an adaptive mind. That's what I want to try and show them.
"We like making stuff out of nothing. It's important to re-use and recycle things. The charity shops don't take toys a lot of time, so people love to donate them here and it really gets played with.
Can parents get involved in the fun too?
"I think it's for the parents as well - the parents don't often get to see their children playing in such a way. Your child goes to nursery and plays with all that kind of stuff, but you don't see them play there. There's nothing more beautiful than watching your own child play. It fascinates you, you could watch them all day. Parents get the chance to see their children exploring.
"There's a coffee station for parents too - all we ask is that people bring their own reusable cups! It's £1 for a posh coffee or a cup of tea."
What's the atmosphere like in the barn and what happens when it's raining?
"We feel very privileged to live here and be able to share it with our community. That's always been the ethos of Dumbreck - we have stewardship of the place but to share it with others is very beneficial to everybody.
"Because it's a barn, the noise dissipates. It's not a noisy place, it's quiet. If you go to a soft play it's very loud. There's a peacefulness to it, even when everyone's laughing or running around, there's a peaceful energy.
"We just want it to be a fun place. Toys can go anywhere - I don't care what happens, they can throw things around, take stuff outside and get it covered in mud. That's the point of the Playbarn - there's that sense that they can do anything.
"Often a parent might spend money on something and say to their child 'no don't take that out in the mud', but that's a shame really. Nobody has to worry about things getting dirty here because that's ok.
"I just want the children to feel that real sense of freedom and play and just enjoy it."
What's been the reaction to the barn from kids and parents?
"Parents will often say their children talk about Playbarn even if they've only been once or twice. If they drive past the end of the road, the child points and says 'Playbarn' and these are just tiny children! People just say they love it and it makes them feel very happy.
"During the pandemic it made parents feel relaxed and relieved, because there was a place they could feel normal, with no masks, with their children. It felt like a bit of normality.
"A lot of time when grans and grandpas come, they say they love it because there's something about it that reminds them of when they were young, because it's not polished. It has that rough around the edges feel, there's something that really resonates with them. You especially hear the grannies say 'this is amazing'.
"They wouldn't have had the access to toys that we had. They would have had to have made something out of nothing or turned something into something.
How do people book their kids in?
"You just book online at bookwhen.com/dumbreckplaybarn. We still like to limit - there's a maximum of 20 kids per session - that means it's not too hectic and people are still covid aware.
"Sessions during the week are two and a half hours. We try to accommodate things like all the different nap times, all the different school drop-offs and pick-ups. It's more of a window and typically people stay for around an hour and a half, but they can stay the whole time of course.
"On a weekend it's just an hour and a half, because we have drama classes and also parties.
"Sessions are £8 for one child, £10 if you have two children and £12 if you have three children.
"For a party it's £120 for exclusive use for two hours and we're already sold out until the middle of May.
"We use the money to reinvest in everything - we're constantly thinking of ways to make it more fun."
Dumbreck Outdoor Playbarn is located at 82 Dumbreck Road, Bellahouston, Glasgow, G41 4SN, with free parking.
To find out more you can visit their website here.
