Dumfries and Galloway

Burns's Last Years – Ellisland, the Globe and the Mausoleum

A day by car, from Dumfries and back.

The route

Nithsdale is where Robert Burns spent the last eight years of his short life.

In 1788 he took the lease of Ellisland, a farm on the banks of the Nith a few miles above Dumfries, and had a farmhouse built there for Jean Armour and their children. The farm never paid its way, but the poems came: about a quarter of all he wrote, Tam o' Shanter and the first version of Auld Lang Syne among them. In 1791 the family moved into Dumfries, where Burns worked full time as an exciseman, collecting the duty on goods, made the Globe Inn his favourite haunt, and died in 1796, aged 37. This route follows that story in a single day, from the farm into the red sandstone town, where the places of his last years are all a short walk apart.

Before you go

Book the Burns tour at the Globe Inn
Book the Globe's Burns tour at least a day ahead, for 3pm, the hour this day needs, on its website or on 01387 323 010: tours run Wednesday to Saturday, and the day is for April to September.
Book lunch at the Globe Inn
Book a Globe Inn table on 01387 323 010 or online once the tour is booked: about 12.50pm for a 3pm tour, out by 2pm; lunch is Wednesday to Saturday only, and it cannot cater for vegan or dairy-free diets.

The day

Nithsdale

The morning is in the country, on a riverbank Burns walked; the afternoon is on foot through Dumfries, from his house to the old bridge, and ends as the town's museums close.

32 min at the wheelAbout 13 miles by carAbout 2 miles on foot

Ellisland Farm
An attraction
Leave Dumfries at about 9.40am: it's 16 minutes' drive up the A76 to Ellisland Farm, which opens at 10am. Burns took the farm in 1788 and built its farmhouse, and it calls itself the home of Auld Lang Syne. Ask at the shop how to see the kitchen and the Spence (his parlour), then watch the Granary Museum's film and walk the riverbank where Tam o' Shanter is said to have come to him. Allow an hour and 40 minutes. It's shut on Mondays, and a restoration is planned: check its website first.
More about Ellisland Farm
16 min by car
Robert Burns House
An attraction
Drive 16 minutes back into Dumfries and park on Burns Street, by Robert Burns House. The family moved into this sandstone house in May 1793, and Burns died here in July 1796. It's free, and upstairs his name is said to be scratched on a window pane with a diamond. Ask at the desk about the Mausoleum's 2.15pm opening. Then walk 4 minutes to the Globe Inn on the High Street for a sit-down lunch: book a table for about 12.50pm, choose from the à la carte, and be out by 2pm.
More about Robert Burns House
8 min on foot
The Burns Mausoleum
An attraction
From the Globe it's 8 minutes' walk to St Michael's kirkyard, where Burns was first buried in a plain grave. He now lies in the white domed Mausoleum with Jean Armour and five of their family; her statue stands opposite the kirk. The inside opens at 2.15pm, Monday to Saturday from April to September, the months this day is laid out for; if nobody comes, ring Robert Burns House on 01387 255297. From October to March ring ahead to have the inside opened, and from November, when Ellisland shuts, keep the day to Dumfries.
More about The Burns Mausoleum
8 min on foot
The Burns tour at the Globe Inn
Walk 8 minutes back to the Globe Inn for its Burns tour. It takes you through the rooms of Burns's howff, his favourite haunt: the dining room that was his Snug, his bedchamber and the landlady's kitchen. Sit in his chair and the house rule is to recite or sing some Burns, or buy everyone a round. Tours run Wednesday to Saturday at set times: book the 3pm slot on the Globe's own site, or ring and ask for it. If you get a different slot, More info shows how to turn the afternoon round.
10 min on foot
Robert Burns Centre
An attraction
It's 10 minutes' walk from the Globe over Devorgilla Bridge, built in 1431, to the Robert Burns Centre, in the town's 18th-century watermill. A model of Dumfries as Burns knew it, a short film and recordings of his songs tell the story of his years here. It's free and shuts at 5pm; if the tour runs over, skip the film. Between 2026 and 2029 the council's flood-defence works may close a stretch of riverside path: follow the signs. The car is about 10 minutes' walk back across the river.
More about Robert Burns Centre

If it rains

Most of this day is under a roof: the farmhouse and Granary Museum at Ellisland, Robert Burns House, the Globe Inn and the Robert Burns Centre are all indoors. In the wet, keep the riverbank at Ellisland short and give the time to the farmhouse and the museum's film instead. There is no shelter in the kirkyard until the Mausoleum's inside is opened at 2.15pm, so arrive close to the time rather than early, and take an umbrella for the walks between, none of them longer than 10 minutes.

Worth a detour

The Twelve Apostles Stone Circle
The largest stone circle on mainland Scotland, nearly 90 metres across in a farm field just off the A76 north of Dumfries, with a stile from the minor road. Twenty minutes is enough: take it on the way out at about 9.45am and give Ellisland an hour and 20 minutes.