Burns Birthplace Cottage & Museum

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Alloway is the obvious place to start for anybody interested in Robert Burns. Not only can you find the restored cottage where he spent the first few years of his life, there’s also a wealth of artefacts on display in the museum! Of course, there are plenty of things you would expect to find in a museum dedicated to a writer, like his desk or handwritten copies of poetry. To me, the most interesting items that give a real connection to Burns the man were basic things like his initialled sock or shaving razer!

Mauchline Burns House Museum

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As a young adult, Robert Burns took on a farm near Mauchline where he would meet the love of his life Jean Armour. It’s said that Burns’ dog ran over Jean’s clean washing at the drying green and her angry shouts were the first words they shared! It’s free to explore the house where they lived together when first married, including the room Jean gave birth to the first of their children. There are rare manuscripts and other interesting items from the bard’s life as well as information about the people that inspired his poetry who lived in Mauchline.

Ellisland Farm

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If there’s one place that brings Burns’ story to life most for me, then it’s Ellisland Farm. Robert Burns built the farmhouse and worked it with Jean, finally living his dream life. Despite the hard labour and long hours, this is where most of his poetry and songs were created! Here, you can stand in the room where Auld Lang Syne was written or walk the river path where Tam o Shanter was conjured up! It’s said that when Burns was offered his choice of plots for building his farm, he picked the prettiest spot over the best farmland. Clearly, he knew what he was talking about, but sadly the farm was never productive. In the end, he was forced to take on a job as an exciseman to help make ends meet and soon left Ellisland behind.

Lunch At The Globe Inn

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The 400-year-old Globe Inn was Robert Burns’ favourite drinking den, but these days it’s a very nice restaurant and bar. As well as enjoying some fine dining, you can book onto a tour to see some of the rooms familiar to the poet. The highlight for me is the opportunity to sit in Burns’ actual chair like a true fanboy There’s only one rule though – you have to recite some Burns poetry or buy a round for the whole bar!

Robert Burns Centre

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Along the banks of the River Nith you’ll find another visitor centre dedicated to Robert Burns inside an old Mill. As well as the informational video and collection of items, it’s the scale model of Old Dumfries that I find truly fascinating! It’s displayed just as it would have been in the late 18th century to give you a Burns-eye view of the town!

Dumfries Burns House Museum

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Like most buildings where Burns lived, his Dumfries home has been turned into a small museum. This is where the poet died at the age of 37 and Jean carried on living for 40 years after! It’s a real treasure trove of stories and you can even find Burns’ signature etched into the window! 

My favourite item is a copy of Burns’ work dedicated to Mrs Graham of Fintry with the line, “May every child of yours, in the hour of need, find such a friend as I shall teach every child of mine that their father found in you.”

St Michael’s Church

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A short stroll from the Robert Burns House is the beautiful St Michael’s Church. As the oldest church in Dumfries, there’s a lot of history packed in here with plenty of nods to Robert Burns. You can even sit in the Burns family pew, and imagine the poet watching a wee bug crawling in a girl’s hair, inspiring To A Louse.

The Burns Mausoleum

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The graveyard of the church is full of fascinating graves, some incredibly elaborate, although that’s not what Burns got to begin with! Thousands attended his funeral, but he was laid to rest in a simple grave, squeezed in the corner. In 1817, his body was exhumed to be placed in the bright white mausoleum that you can visit today. Open during the tourist season, it also holds two of his sons and Jean Armour. It’s a more fitting reminder of Scotland’s National Poet, somehow incredibly simple but still magnificently grand, just like Robert Burns himself!