Tour
the pastoral charm of Galloway
Ailsa
Craig, the granite plug of an extinct volcano, stands ten
miles off the western shore of this land of lochs, moors
and high hills in lowland Scotland. Forested uplands cut
by ravines form the hinterland to the peninsula of The Rhins,
and beneath its rocky spine are gardens where the influence
of the mild Gulf Stream allows subtropical plants to grow.
Ailsa
Craig
Once-volcanic
island with 19th-century lighthouse and castle. Its bluish
granite is source of stones for curling.
Ardwell
Gardens
Walled
garden, hawthorn avenue and wooded walk around 18th-century
Ardwell House. The Machars visible across Luce Bay.
Auchenmalg
Bay
Sandy
bay featuring sea angling and swimming is overlooked by
revenue men's barracks of 1820s and by Auchenmalg to the
north.
Ballantrae
Gaelic
for 'village on the shore'. It was 18th-century smugglers'
headquarters. River Stinchar's tidal creeks and lagoons
provide refuge for terns and other birds.
Barr
Remote
Carrick Hills village by the Water of Gregg. Red-sandstone
church of 1891 now private house.
Cairnsmore
of Fleet
Six-mile
return walk to 2331ft summit was mentioned in John Buchan's
The Thirty-Nine Steps. Walk begins near Palnure.
Castle
Kennedy Gardens
Gardens
encompassing two castles were laid out by Field Marshal
Lord Stair and troops in 18th century. Features terraces,
lily pond and separate gardens of Stair family's Castle
Lochinch.
Creetown
Gem
museum has an agate containing drop of water said to be
2 million years old. Granite clock tower commemorates
Queen Victoria's 1897 Diamond Jubilee.
Drummore
Popular
resort, sea angling centre. Seven ancient kingdoms can
be seen from Mull of Galloway. Double Dykes crossing the
mull believed to be work of Picts.
Galloway
Forest Park
Wooded
250 miles of countryside topped by 2766ft Merrick. Lochs
include Loch Trool and Clatteringshaws Loch. Features
include deer range, wild goat park, forest trails among
glens, waterfalls.
Galloway
House Gardens
Laid
out in 1740s as pleasure gardens for Galloway House, they
include rare handkerchief tree and heronry. Open daily.
Garlieston
Popular
fishing centre protected by sea wall, with sea-angling
boats for hire. Village's brightly painted houses are
best viewed from bay road. Galloway House Gardens 1 mile
south.
Girvan
Sandy
beaches, safe swimming, fishing all attract visitors.
Visit boatyard where wooden fishing boats are built, also
distillery. Killochan Castle, 16th century, lies 3 miles
north-east.
Glenluce
Sixteenth-century
Castle of Park to the west overlooks village from across
Water of Luce. Twelfth-century Cistercian abbey ruins
retain chapter house with vaulted ceiling, Gothic windows.
Glen
Trool
Go
by Water of Minnoch's foaming rapids to reach glen. Road
finishes above the waters of Loch Trool, where Bruce Stone
marks 1307 rout of English by Robert Bruce's men. For
the energetic, a path leads 4 miles to the summit of Merrick's
2766ft, highest point in Southern Scotland.
Glenwhan
Gardens
Hilltop
gardens where exotic trees and shrubs flourish in Gulf
Stream climate. Views over Luce Bay among rocky outcrops
and cascading waterfalls.
Isle
of Whithorn
Busy
though unspoiled sailing resort. St Ninian landed on grassy
peninsula (once the isle) in AD 395 on return from Rome.
Iron Age fort, ruined 13th-century chapel.
Kirkmadrine
Church
Tiny,
isolated church where three of Britain's earliest known
inscribed Christian stones stand. Two, praising 5th-century
priests, were being used as gateposts.
Loch
Doon
Fourteenth-century
castle with keep on western shore. It was moved from an
islet in loch flooded for hydroelectricity.
Logan
Botanic Gardens
Gulf
Stream keeps garden of sub-tropical trees and flowering
shrubs virtually frost-free. Note the avenue of Chusan
palms.
Minnigaff
Now
a suburb of Newton Stewart, though far older. Ruined medieval
church, ivy covered; also sparious 19th-century church.
Churchyard yew is reputed to be 800 years old.
Monreith
Village
with safe, sandy beaches. Ruined Kirkmaiden chapel contains
local Maxwell family tombs, and plaque to drowned French
naval captain washed ashore 200 years ago. Gavin Maxwell
otter memorial on headland.
Mull
of Galloway
Headland
with 250ft cliffs topped by 1830 lighthouse. Views from
here of Lake District, Isle of Man and Ireland's Antrim
Hills.
Murray's
Monument
Obelisk
stands above shell of cottage where Alexander Murray was
born in 1775. A self-taught shepherd boy, he became professor
of Oriental languages at Edinburgh University.
Newton
Stewart
Small
town with museum of local history including farmhouse
kitchen and blacksmith's forge. Cree Bridge, built in
1813, backed by riverside gardens.
Palgowan
Open Farm
A
7000 acre hill farm offering afternoon tours. Livestock
rearing, the making of 24 miles of dry-stone walls explained.
Livestock includes shaggy, long-horned Highland cattle,
Blackface sheep.
Penkill
Castle
Fifteenth-century
castle with chesspiece tower, enlarged in 1844 by Spencer
Boyd. Mural by William Bell Scott follows curving staircase.
Pre-Raphaelite artists including Holman Hunt and Dante
Gabriel Rossetti painted here. Visits by appointment only.
Port
Logan
Port
Logan Fish Pond, excavated 1800, served as fresh fish
larder for Logan estate owners. Land-hungry feudal laird
said to have built up main road above house-top level
to drive out locals.
Portpatrick
Colour-washed
houses line promenade. Ferry link to Ireland before 1862.
Irish elopers were married in 17th-century church. Dunskey
Castle ruin nearby.
The
Queen's Way
Scenic
road alongside Galloway Forest Park linking New Galloway
and Newton Stewart commemorates Queen's Silver Jubilee
of 1977. Picnic spots, forest trails.
St
Ninian's Cave
Cave
where first Christian missionary to Scotland prayed after
arrival in AD 395. Crosses are carved into nearby rock.
Soulseat
Loch
Near
loch is promontory site of herb garden, now featuring
100 species set in individual beds. Garden planted beside
mounded remains of Soulseat Abbey.
Stranraer
Seaside
resort, ferry terminal for Lame, Northern Ireland. Castle
of St John now visitor centre. North West Castle, shaped
like a ship, was home of 18th-century polar explorer Sir
John Ross.
Torhouse
Stone Circle
Sixty-foot
diameter Bronze Age circle. There are 19 stones in the
circle and three boulders set in line in the centre. It
is thought it may have been a burial site. Ruins of Baldoon
Castle, 3 miles south-east, the setting for Sir Walter
Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor.
Whithorn
Twelfth-century
priory ruin, said to be built on site of St Ninian's 5th-century
church Candida Casa, or 'white house', retains barrel-vaulted
crypt, roofless nave. Site has been excavated to reveal
foundations of Viking trading settlement, and coins and
gaming pieces from earlier times.
Wigtown
Martyrs'
Memorial Stone marks spot where two anti-Episcopalian
women who refused to recant their religion were, in 1685,
tied to stakes in River Bladnoch to drown in rising tide.
Working distillery of 1814, creamery, tiny museum.
{right}
