Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 1 Guide to Rural Scotland DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY DUMFRIES AND A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 2 LOCATOR MAP LOCATOR Guide to Rural Scotland Ayr EAST Abington Ettrickbridge Dippen Coylton BORDER Fisherton Auchinleck AYRSHIRE (Scottish Leadhills Culroy Ettrick New Hawick Maybole Cumnock Wanlockhead Maidens Sanquhar Dalmellington Moffat Turnberry Davington Dailly Straiton Beattock Teviothe Girvan SOUTH Eskdalemuir Balloch Thornhill Newtown Saug Barr Wamphray Moniaive Lendalfoot Carsphairn Kirkstile Kirkpatrick Boreland AYRSHIRE Kirkland Corrie Newcastl Ballantrae Pinwherry Lochmaben Langholm Bogue Dunscore Barrhill Lockerbie Bargrennan New DUMFRIES Dumfries Waterbeck Pentonbrid Galloway AND GALLOWAY GALLOWAY DUMFRIES AND Dalton Evertown Glenwhilly Carrutherstown Springholm Ervie Carseriggan Newton Glencaple Ruthwell Longtown Cairnryan Stewart Castle Gretna Douglas Annan Todhills Stranraer Craighlaw Dalbeattie Creetown Upper Kirkbean Cardurnock Newtow Glenluce Kirkcowan Ruscoe Carlisle Portpatrick F Dunragit Wigtown Tongland Rockcliffe Mainsriddle Kirkbride Newton Wether Kirkcudbright Arlosh Thursby Stoneykirk Auchenmaig Whauphill Gledpark Dalston Sandhead Garlieston Wigton South Port William Ross Aspatria Sebergham Port Logan Whithorn Prospect Monreith Maryport Isle of Crosby Uldale Unthank Flimby Drummore Whithorn Bassenthwaite Workington Cockermouth Pen Mungrisdale Thornthwaite Keswick Troutbeck Pardshaw Braithwaite Towns and Villages Ae pg 8 Ellisland pg 8 New Abbey pg 27 Annan pg 23 Eskdalemuir pg 19 New Galloway pg 33 Ardwell pg 51 Gatehouse of Fleet pg 40 Newton Stewart pg 45 Balmaclellan pg 34 Glenluce pg 44 Palnackie pg 38 Beeswing pg 28 Glentrool pg 44 Penpont pg 13 Caerlaverock pg 22 Gretna Green pg 25 Port Logan pg 51 Cairn Holy pg 41 Grey Mare’s Tail pg 19 Portpatrick pg 53 Cairnryan pg 44 Hightae pg 21 Powfoot pg 24 Canonbie pg 27 Holywood pg 7 Rockcliffe pg 39 Carsphairn pg 35 Keir pg 13 Ruthwell pg 24 Castle Douglas pg 35 Kippford pg 38 Sanquhar pg 16 Chapel Finian pg 48 Kirkbean pg 28 St John’s Town of Dalry pg 35 Closeburn pg 8 Kirkconnel pg 17 Stranraer pg 43 Creetown pg 41 Kirkconnel pg 26 Thornhill pg 8 Crocketford pg 28 Kirkcudbright pg 29 Threave Castle pg 36 Dalbeattie pg 38 Kirkmadrine pg 51 Threave Gardens pg 37 Dalswinton pg 7 Kirkmaiden pg 52 Tongland pg 33 Dalton pg 26 Kirkpatrick Fleming pg 26 Torthorwald pg 22 Drumlanrig Castle pg 12 Kirtlebridge pg 26 Tweedswell pg 19 Dumfries pg 5 Langholm pg 20 Twynholm pg 40 Dundrennan pg 40 Loch Ken pg 33 Tynron pg 14 Dunscore pg 14 Lochmaben pg 21 Upper Nithsdale pg 17 Durisdeer pg 13 Lockerbie pg 21 Wanlockhead pg 15 Eastriggs pg 25 Moffat pg 18 Westerkirk pg 20 Ecclefechan pg 25 Moniaive pg 15 Whithorn pg 49 Eliock House pg 17 Monreith pg 49 Wigtown pg 47 A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 3 Dumfries & Galloway Guide to Rural Scotland People scurrying north along the M74 rarely a visit to St Michael’s Kirkyard to see his turn off at Gretna and head for Dumfries and mausoleum. Kirkcudbright, because of the Galloway. This is a pity, as it is a wonderful quality of light found there, has had an artists’ area that can match anything in Scotland for colony since Victorian times, and is a gracious beautiful scenery, grandeur and history. There place full of Regency and Georgian buildings. GALLOWAY DUMFRIES AND are more than 200 miles of coastline with Wigtown is Scotland’s official book town, and small coves, neat fishing ports, towering cliffs Stranraer, with its ferries, is a gateway to and wonderful sandy beaches. There also are Northern Ireland. Then there’s Lockerbie, beautiful villages, old abbeys and castles, forever associated with the air disaster of 1988. vibrant towns and country roads that meander The area contains three former counties - through soft, verdant scenery or climb up into Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and bleak moorland landscapes that were made for Wigtownshire, and each one has its own walking. In the fields you will see herds of the particular charm. You can explore beautiful region’s own indigenous cattle - the Belted Nithsdale in Dumfriesshire, for instance, and Galloways, so called because they have a wide visit Drumlanrig Castle, one of the homes of white band running round their bodies. the Duke of Queensberry and Buccleuch. Dumfries is the largest town in the area, and Kirkcudbrightshire was the birthplace of John is a lovely place, full of old red sandstone Paul Jones, founder of the American navy, and buildings and great shopping facilities. It is Wigtownshire was where Christianity was where Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, is introduced into Scotland. buried, and any trip to Scotland should include Surrounding the fertile fields and picturesque towns of coastal Galloway are the high hills and bleak moorland that cut off Dumfries and Galloway from the rest of Scotland. Because of this, the area was almost independent of Scottish kings in medieval times, and was ruled by a succession of families, from the ancient Lords of Galloway to the mighty Douglases. All Glenwhan Gardens, Stranraer have left their mark in A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 4 sweetheart to the English Guide to Rural Scotland language; at Glenluce - a word that means valley of light - are the wonderful ruins of Glenluce Abbey; and south of Kirkcudbright is Dundrennan, where Mary Stuart - better known as Mary, Queen of Scots - spent her last night on Scottish soil. The GALLOWAY DUMFRIES AND castles are equally as impressive. Drumlanrig, Threave, Cardoness, Caerlaverock; the names trip off the tongue, and go to the very heart of Scotland’s history. From the middle of August to the end of October each year, the area holds its Gaelforce Festival, bringing together musical events, literary festivals, traditional Scottish entertainment, concerts, drama and art. This part of Scotland has a Galloway Forest Park mild climate, and at one time the coastline was nicknamed the stone, such as Devorgilla’s Bridge in Dumfries, Scottish Riviera. First-time visitors are always and the mighty Threave Castle, built on an surprised to see palm trees flourishing in island in the River Dee. cottage gardens near the coast, or in the grand, Then there are the abbeys, for, like the formal gardens such as Logan Botanic Garden Borders, this was an area much favoured by or Castle Kennedy Garden in Wigtownshire. medieval monks. At New Abbey are the ruins But then, Dumfries and Galloway has always of a monastery that gave the word been full of surprises. A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 5 Dumfries The Globe Inn was the poet’s howff, or Guide to Rural Scotland favoured drinking place, and can still be visited. A Burns Mausoleum A Burns’ House It was established in 1610, and can be found A Globe Inn B Robert Burns Centre down a narrow passage off the main street. On the west bank of the Nith is the Robert A Midsteeple A Theatre Royal Burns Centre (free) which tells the full story I C Organised Chaos Devorgilla’s Bridge of the poet and his connections with the B Old Bridge House B Dumfries Museum town. There is a fascinating scale model of C Lincluden College G Archibald the Grim Dumfries in the 1790s and a haunting audio- GALLOWAY DUMFRIES AND visual presentation (for which there is a small A Crichton Memorial Church charge), as well as a bookshop and a cafe- The Royal Burgh of Dumfries certainly lives gallery with a lively exhibition programme. up to its nickname of the Queen of the South. Another writer associated with Dumfries is It has a lovely location on the banks of the J M Barrie. Though not born here, he River Nith, and was once voted the town with attended Dumfries Academy, a handsome the best quality of life in Britain. building in Academy Street. While at the The town is forever associated with school, he stayed in a house in George Street Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. and later admitted that the games of pirates he Though born in Ayrshire, he died in Dumfries, and his friends played in the garden sloping and lies in the Burns Mausoleum within the down to the Nith gave him the idea for Peter kirkyard that surrounds St Michael’s Parish Pan and Captain Hook. Church, built in the 1740s. Also buried there Dumfries is an ancient town, with a royal are his wife, Jean Armour, and five of their charter from William I dated 1186. It was family. Burns had a family pew in St Michael’s here, in 1306, that Robert the Bruce murdered (marked by a plaque), and long after his death the Red Comyn, a rival contender for the his wife was a regular attender.