Burns Country – Burns Cottage, the Brig o' Doon and Culzean
A day by car, from Glasgow and back.
The route
Robert Burns was born in Alloway, now on the southern edge of Ayr, in a thatched cottage his father built.
The places of his childhood and his poems still stand within a short walk of each other there: the old kirk, the bridge over the River Doon, the cottage itself. Further down the coast, Culzean Castle (said Cullane) sits on its cliff above the Firth of Clyde, Robert Adam's grand house in a country park of woods, gardens and shore. Together they make a full and easy day out from Glasgow.
Before you go
Culzean Castle is open through the summer, usually from April to late October with last entry at about 3.30pm, so check the National Trust for Scotland's Culzean page for your day and book a ticket there if it offers one; members go in free.
The day
Ayrshire
A day that starts on foot in the village where Burns was born and ends on a clifftop above the sea. The morning goes slowly, in his footsteps and the footsteps of his poems, with lunch beside the river. Then the coast road takes you south for an afternoon at Culzean, where the woods and gardens run down to the shore.
2 hr 37 min at the wheelAbout 99 miles by carAbout 1.5 miles on foot
Alloway Auld Kirk
An attraction
Leave Glasgow by half past eight. It's 55 minutes' drive down the M77 and the A77 to Alloway, on the south side of Ayr. Park at the Burns Birthplace Museum on Murdoch's Lone and walk a few minutes along the lane to Alloway Auld Kirk, a roofless 16th-century church in its kirkyard. Burns's father, William Burnes, is buried here, and this is where Tam o' Shanter, in the poem, sees the witches dancing. The kirkyard gate usually opens at about 9am.
7 min on foot
Brig o’ Doon
An attraction
It's 7 minutes' walk on, past the Burns Monument, to the Brig o' Doon, the steep single arch over the River Doon that Tam gallops for in the poem. The witches cannot cross running water, and his mare Meg loses her tail on the bridge. It is thought to date from the early 1400s and is for people on foot only. Above it, the Monument's gardens are free to walk round, with a Greek temple of 1823 and a little Statue House holding Souter Johnnie and Nance Tinnock.
5 min on foot
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum
An attraction
The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is 5 minutes' walk back up, and opens daily at 10am. Give it an hour. The rooms are kept dim to protect what they hold, Burns's own manuscripts and letters among them, and you can listen to the poems being read. One ticket covers the museum and Burns Cottage up the road, and National Trust for Scotland members go in free. The café and the play park outside need no ticket.
9 min on foot
Burns Cottage
An attraction
It's 9 minutes' walk north on the Poet's Path, past sculptures from the poems, a giant mouse and the Twa Dogs among them. Burns was born in this low thatched cottage on 25 January 1759 and lived here until he was seven. It opens at 11am. Lunch at Tales, the Brig o' Doon House Hotel's restaurant by the bridge, is 10 minutes' walk back down and 3 more to the car; the museum café is quicker. Allow an hour and be away by half past one.
9 min on foot back to the car, then 17 min by car
Electric Brae
An attraction
Back at the car, it's 17 minutes' drive west to Doonfoot and south on the A719, past the turning down to Dunure, a village with a ruined castle above its harbour, to the Electric Brae, known locally as Croy Brae. Here the lie of the land makes the road seem to slope the wrong way, so a car with its brakes off appears to roll uphill. Pull into the layby by the carved stone that explains it, and never stop on the road itself.
8 min on foot
Culzean Castle
An attraction
Drive 15 minutes on down the A719 to Culzean's Home Farm car park; the castle is 8 minutes' walk away. Robert Adam rebuilt it between 1777 and 1792 for the Earl of Cassillis, on a cliff above the Firth of Clyde. Look for the Oval Staircase and the hall walled with pistols and swords. The castle is usually open from April to late October, last entry about 3.30pm: give it an hour and a half. The park shuts at five, and Glasgow is an hour and 25 minutes' drive home.
If it rains
Much of this day is under a roof. Give the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum longer, and the cottage is indoors too; keep the Auld Kirk and the Brig o' Doon short, with the Monument's little Statue House as a dry corner between them. Lunch at Tales is indoors. At Culzean the castle is the shelter: spend the afternoon inside it and leave the park walks for a dry day. The Electric Brae only works when you can see the lie of the land, so drive on past it in low cloud.
Worth a detour
- Dunure Castle and harbour
Dunure is a small fishing village on the coast, about 16 minutes' drive from the museum, with the ruin of the Kennedys' castle on a rocky point above its harbour. The Kennedys held it from 1357, and the beehive dovecot beside it dates from the 1400s. Walking round it is free, and a small modern turf labyrinth lies on the far side of the castle from the harbour. Going down to Dunure and back up to the Electric Brae adds about 6 minutes of driving, plus however long you stay. It is open ground with no gate: go in daylight and in dry weather, and keep back from the edges. If the morning has run late, leave it out.
- Greenan Castle
Greenan Castle is a ruined tower house on a clifftop above Ayr Bay, about 10 minutes' drive from the museum, reached by a short path up a steep grassy slope from the car park on Greenan Road. The Kennedys held it by 1603. The tower itself is closed off, so you come for the view over the water to Arran and Ailsa Craig. It adds about 10 minutes of driving to the day, plus the climb. It is open ground with no gate: wear sturdy shoes, keep back from the cliff edge, and go in daylight and dry weather.
Make it a weekend
