Dumfries & Galloway - things to do /see

[Unlikelylass]

I’ll be in D&G this summer for a week, any suggestions for interesting places to visit and things to do? Have a car. Seems to be lots of castles which is good, and Wigtown for the bookshops.

Kirkcudbright is a nice town to visit. Also Gatehouse of Fleet, which has an old mill with a very good second hand bookshop- unfortunately it looks like it's temporarily closed but worth checking to see if it reopens (Mill on the Fleet).
If you fancy a drive, I would recommend Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, a very interesting place with lovely grounds and beautiful views.

Broughton House, previously the home of the artist EA Hornel, is worth visiting. The house itself is interesting, including Hornel’s studio and art gallery. There is a beautiful Japanese garden also.

https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/broughton-house-garden

Caerlaverock castle
Galloway activity centre
Dumfries museum
The devils porridge museum
Any of the beaches
Drumlanrig castle
Crawick multiverse
Threave gardens
Threave castle
Loads of great walks/ hikes
Sauna by the sea

Where will you be staying @Unlikelylass and what sorts of things do you enjoy?

If you do stray into Ayrshire to go to Culzean as @JeanGenieJean suggested build in some extra time for the electric brae!

Threave Castle would be worth adding to your castle list, near Castle Douglas. You have to be taken over the river in a wee boat and when you get there be sure to examine the gibbet as Black Douglas was understood to keep that occupied as a sign of what to expect from him.

New Abbey, with the remains of Sweetheart Abbey, is a nice little village, not far from Loch Arthur Farm shop and cafe which is well good for all sorts but particularly cheese. From New Abbey you can walk up Criffel, or less strenuous a smaller hill to the side to the Waterloo Monument, a tower with a spiral staircase up to the top.

in dumfries there’s the burns house, bridge museum and I think another one.
aircraft museum just outside dumfries
caerlaverock castle is fantastic
new abbey is a lovely village with an old flour mill and abbey both historic Scotland.
kirkcudbright has an art gallery and museum.
castle Douglas is the food town nice loch at the bottom of town and small art gallery at the top.
Dalbeattie small town and can walk into the forest from there
Rockcliffe. Nightmare for parking but great beach, walks and at low tide there’s an island you can walk out to.
Logan botanic gardens
Port Patrick
There are lots of short walks just outside the towns

I was just going to post the same as @JeanGenieJean we stayed in Kirkcudbright a few years ago. We visited Robert Burns House and the churchyard where he's buried, then went to the Robert Burns Museum think that's in Ayrshire? Can't remember what else we done.

I've just been to the Devil's Porridge museum in Eastriggs which is great, it's all about a huge munitions factory which was built for WW1, there's lots of social history and it's very well presented.

You are correct, Burns cottage, graveyard, Brig O’Doon and the museum are all in Alloway. A good afternoon if you take the tourist route up the coast I would suggest Culzean Castle too as all National Trust.

It’s a great area to just meander about and check out the scenery - it’s not like the Highlands, it’s much more like the relatively nearby Lake District but without the massive crowds. We may have been lucky but we’ve always had sunny beach weather when we’ve been there. Due to its location, it benefits greatly from the Gulf Stream and has a microclimate that makes it warmer than the rest of Scotland.

@worrisomeasset has been very lucky indeed.

I was going to say in Dumfries & Galloway:
Things to do - shelter
Things to see - rain

Wow, thanks everyone, lots of things to look out for. And will be well dressed for all weathers, have no problem walking in the pouring rain!

Gray Mare's Tail if you like a scenic drive and huge waterfall. You can walk to the top but definitely take proper walking boots.

Moffat for sweets and duck feeding

Not a cloud in the sky today, I had to take my coat off earlier 😱

We stayed in Glasgow for the first time for the Queen’s Platinum jubilee long weekend and had gloriously warm and sunny weather while the rest of the UK was shrouded in cloud and rain. Based purely on my own experiences in D&G and Glasgow, I will always think of the west of Scotland as being the UK’s balmy version of California.

Wanlockhead and the leadmills there’s a museum of lead mining The drive is well worth it for the scenery it’s the highest village in Scotland https://www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk/

Go to Kippford and walk the jubilee paths between there and Rockcliffe. It’s a short but beautiful walk. When you return you can have a drink / food at The Anchor Inn.
The walk to WhitePort beach is also lovely but make sure you go to the second beach https://www.kirkennan.co.uk/blog/white-port-beach www.kirkennan.co.uk/blog/white-port-beach]]]]

Arbigland House is fantastic, a beautiful drive from Dumfries and wonderful gardens and a private beach to explore- along with a beautiful house that is open reguarly. Stunning part of the world. St Johns of Dalry has a great pub and is an amazing drive.

You could see where the greatest physicist of all time grew up (Glenlair), or where he was buried (Parton Kirk)

Poor James Clerk Maxwell tends to be rather overlooked in the tourist stakes though.

We were just reminiscing about holiday where it poured with rain for 5 days. We were staying in Castle Douglas!

I can't believe no one has suggested the Gem Rock Museum in Creetown! It's not bad to while away a couple of hours on a wet day.

Drumlanrig Castle is a bit further away, but has good grounds for exploring. The cattle itself is open very occasionally.

The red kite centre is truly amazing. Unmissable.

Also second Kirkcudbright. Fab place

Kirkcudbright and Gatehouse plus the area around is the very specific setting of Dorothy L Sayers’ Five Red Herrings so that’s what I’d go and tour round. Some nice descriptions in the book and you can go and look at where Campbell was pushed into the Minnoch.

Where are you staying - it's a long county from Gretna down to the SW corner. I live in D & G in the south west corner. Ignore the comments about the rain -we have some of the best weather here and it rarely snows due to the gulf stream, When the 'Beast from the East' hit we were the only place in the UK not to get snow :)

Anyway if you come to this area look at Castle Kennedy Gardens, Logan Botanic Gardens -both have children's activities on in the school hols. Mull of Galloway Lighthouse and RSPB sanctuary great for kids, Logan fish pond is natural sea water pond which refills at high tide and has unusual fish etc which kids will love.

Agree if you go into Ayrshire re Culzean castle. Wigtown book stores are fabulous too. happy hols :)

Grey Mare's Tail is lovely for a nice walk.

Must visit Drummuir Farm ice cream parlour! The ice cream is just so creamy and they have like more than 20 flavours!

www.drummuirfarm.co.uk/

We used to spend pretty much all of our holidays in Gatehouse-of-Fleet when I was a kid. Several hours’ drive from home. Happy memories - thanks for reminding me!

We only discovered it a couple of years ago, such a nice place.