Annandale Distillery and the Devil's Porridge – A Level Day
A day.
The route
A level day by Annan for anyone with a wheelchair, a walking frame or a pushchair.
Annandale's tour keeps to the level for anyone who needs it, with the stillhouse shown on a live video, and lunch is across the cobbled courtyard. In the afternoon, the Devil's Porridge Museum at Eastriggs tells the story of the vast munitions factory around Gretna in the First World War.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
None of ours is close by: the nearest is The Scullery in Yarrow, 38 miles away. Sleeps 2; next free Fri 13 Nov to Sun 15 Nov.
Then The House in the Hill, 44 miles away. Sleeps 4; next free Thu 29 Oct to Sat 31 Oct.
Book Annandale Distillery's Classic Tour online before you go, for a morning time that leaves lunch after it: an hour, £25 a head at the time of writing, with driver's drams to take home; tell them if you'll need the live video in place of the stillhouse stairs.
The day
Annan
A morning among the casks of a distillery that slept for nearly a century, with a tasting in the warehouse and lunch in the courtyard café. The afternoon is in a modern museum, with films, voices and things to touch on two floors.
About five and a half hours
Annandale Distillery
An attraction
Annandale Distillery is just north of Annan, on the brown signs through the town. Drive past the main car park at the top gate to the bottom car park, where the disabled spaces are 50 yards from the entrance, along a smooth tarmac path and down a very slight slope to the cobbled courtyard. The cobbles are a little bumpy, though the distillery says modern wheelchairs have always coped, and it has a wheelchair to lend. Book the Classic Tour online: an hour, £25 a head at the time of writing. The kiln, the filling store and the warehouse where the tasting happens are all level. The stillhouse is up two flights of stairs on open steel flooring, so anyone who can't manage them watches a live video of it while the guide talks them through. Drivers can have driver's drams to take home, and children may come if an adult keeps them close. There's a large accessible toilet with baby changing off the courtyard.
The Maltings Coffee Shop
Lunch
Lunch is across the courtyard at the Maltings Coffee Shop, level from the cobbles through its glass doors. It's open every day from 10am to 5pm, with the last hot food at 3.30pm, and serves homemade soups, freshly made sandwiches, scones and cakes, with a children's menu and a dog menu; well-behaved dogs are welcome inside. Tables can be booked online. If it's full, the Devil's Porridge Museum's café, next on the road, serves its main menu until 2pm.
11 min by car
The Devil's Porridge Museum
An attraction
The Devil's Porridge Museum in Eastriggs is 11 minutes' drive east. Its car park has two blue badge spaces, and the step-free entrance, with an automatic door, is just across the road. It's open every day from 10am to 4.30pm, with the last entry at 3.45pm, and tickets are £10 for an adult and £9.50 for concessions and children aged 5 to 16 at the time of writing; an essential carer comes free. The museum tells the story of HM Factory Gretna, which it calls the largest munitions factory in the world during the First World War. It's fully accessible by wheelchair and walking frame, with flat floors, a lift to the top floor, chairs throughout and an accessible toilet with baby changing. Some displays play loud explosions and music. Dogs on a lead are welcome on Thursdays and Sundays only. The museum shuts over Christmas and New Year, on dates it will post nearer the time.
If it rains
The tour, the café and the museum are all indoors; only the cobbled courtyard at the distillery and the road crossing at the museum are out in the weather.
