Anyone know Dumfries and Galloway?

[Crackery]

We have the chance to stay in a lovely cottage near Dumfries at Easter. Are there nice places to visit locally? Ideal would be 3 diff places that we could spend 2-3 hrs in. DC are older teens.

Googling throws up Burns place which would be good. Anything else you'd recommend or towns good for a potter?

Ice cream making workshop at Cream O Galloway
Highland Cow safari at Kitchen Coos snd Ewes
Galloway Activity Centre
Crawick Multiverse

The aviation museum in Dumfries is really good, lots of general WWII stuff as well as planes.

Caeverlock (sp?) Castle

Bird sanctuary along the Solway Firth

Mabie Forest

Yes if you like outdoors so many beaches..walks... Forests.
Castles . Drumlanrig is lovely
Dumfries museum and observatory is good .lots of nice town to wander .

Thank you! Good to have folk in the know!

My kids would love that ice cream experience but it looks like an almost 2 hr drive from where we would be staying on east of Dumfries town/ city...

There's the red kite centre
The porridge museum is worth a visit for sure Small museum but v interesting (ammunitions not oats!)
The steam boat inn carsethorne - beautifully positioned on the solway firth.
There's the multiverse as well - never been but it sounds great
Gretna shopping centre

I don't know what it is about Dumfries but often in Scotland it feels like you are on the road for ours to get from a to b but not in this location.

Lots of forests especially good ifbibto mountain biking
water sports on loch ken
theres a few small museums and an art gallery in dumfries
kirkcudbright has a much bigger art gallery
WWT at caerlaverock
lotd of historic Scotland sites and a couple of NT
we go most years but my dc are younger. Lots to do though

On the east side there is the samye ling centre which is a Buddhist temple.
The savings bank museum
The devils porridge museum
Depends where you are staying but there is lots to do.

Where exactly are you staying, if you don't mind saying?
Lots to do, esp if you like outdoors

And Dumfries is a small town, for example I live in Dumfries but have a 45 minute commute to work. You will be in the car alot.

Go to Kirkcudbright, small harbour town with a ruined castle next to the harbour. Lots of eateries, art galleries and small independent shops.
There is also a space centre, planetarium and gin distillery.
Take the coast road through from Dunfries through the small villages, it’s very picturesque.

Dumfries *

Thanks all! The house is in/ beside Amisfield.

Thinking:

A day in Kirkcudbright

A coastal walk day from here

Devil's porridge museum and then onto Gretna outlet

Burns House

4 outings for 4 days

Google maps says it's 45 mins drive to Gatehouse of Fleet. One of our favourite days out down there is Mossyard beach which is about 10 mins further down, then back into Gatehouse for a look in the museum/bookshop and a pizza or pub tea.
Kirkubright is lovely as other people have said.

Sure I read recently that Cream O'Galloway closed down so maybe double check that before heading off there.

Gretna has some interesting shops to look round for a few hours. Make sure you go to both the outlet village and the wedding bit which has some shops more for tourists (I.e overpriced tartan stuff and Loch Ness monster toys, fun for browsing though)

Lovely coastal villages all along the Solway.

Threave Gardens is lovely.

https://www.explore-dumfries-galloway.com/things-to-do/museums-and-galleries-in-dumfries-and-galloway/savings-banks-museum/

We used to go here when I was little and we visited my mam's cousins in Annan.

I stayed just outside Dumfries in October. We went to Threave Gardens, Kirkcudbright, Castle Douglas (family from there, so not a trip for everyone- although we bought stuff from the butcher which was excellent) and Rockcliff Bay. Dumfries was much smaller than I remember. Also a trip to Forest of Ae, great for mountain biking, walks etc.

I used to live in Dumfries, moved away quite a few years ago so my knowledge of the area isn't up to date but if you are looking for pottery/ceramics specifically I have some nice pieces from Barnbarroch Pottery which is near Dalbeattie. Which would fit in fairly well with a trip to the Kirkcudbright/Castle Douglas area. I can see recent posts from the pottery on social media so they are still there after all these years.
There's also the Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries which holds exhibitions of local work.

Dumfries and Galloway doesn't have lots of fast major roads and the public transport network wasn't great when I lived there so there is a lot of driving involved and it can feel like it takes a while to get to places. But the countryside and the smaller towns and villages are lovely.

If your teens like outdoorsy things there is a lot of that in D&G, the forests (Ae, Mabie) have walking and biking tracks and there is a big mountain biking trails network in D&G (the 7 Stanes network). I used to do a lot of walking, there are some nice hillwalks in the area - Criffel and Screel spring to mind as walks to look at if you can fit in a day walking. There is also a water sports activity centre at Loch Ken.

Apart from the Gracefield Arts Centre and the Forest of Ae, all of these are a fair way from Amisfield but if you don't mind the driving you should still be able to see plenty further west in the region.

When I lived in the area, the Thornhill and Moniaive areas were well known for crafts and artists so it might be worth looking for potters etc around there as it would be not too far from Amisfield. Or Moffat, which is a direct drive further north from Amisfield, it always seemed to have lots of craft places and cafes, and there are some lovely walks around Moffat - the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall walk was a favourite

We stayed half an hour to nearest town was Castle Douglas in October. We went to Threave Gardens, Kirkcudbright (fabulous), red kite centre (unmissable, never seen the like), Dumfries (not great, we were dropping off a friend at the station but we did pick up some nice food in m&s and some local gin at a speciality store, oh and enjoyed the national children's literature museum)

we also went on walks, a drive down the forest road called raiders Road. There's a few whiskey and gin distilleries, try Bladnoch whiskey or crafty gin.

Scenery is great and it's very quiet.

We got ice cream at gatehouse of Fleet, and there looks to be a nice mill/ visitor centre there.

Some potential ideas here
http://www.donthibernate.co.uk/summer-trip-to-the-west-coast-of-scotland/

Arran is a great day out but its a long drive to the ferry, but its worth it

Drumlanrig Castje - Mum trail and adventure playground, as well as castle (big old house, not medieval type castle) interior.

“Mtb” trail not “mum trail”.

Also woodland walks, bike hire.
loads of mountain biking/woodland walking in D&G - Google “7 Stanes”.

I love going to Wigtown when I'm in that neck of the woods - lots of bookshops and some really lovely cafes! The Bookshop, Well Read books and ReadingLasses are all favourites of mine (the cakes in ReadingLasses are amazing!)

Caeverlock Castle- once you've looked round, carry on walk8ng to the site of the old castle, and a short walk further to the coastal path, where there is a bird hide.