Rozelle House – Tam o' Shanter, Henry Moore and Afternoon Tea
A few hours.
The route
Rozelle House is a white Georgian mansion in its own wooded park on the south side of Ayr, and its free galleries hold the painter Alexander Goudie's paintings of Burns's Tam o' Shanter and a bronze by Henry Moore.
Afterwards, 5 minutes' drive north, the Fox and Willow serves afternoon tea in rooms of velvet booths, painted peacocks and animal portraits. It's a treat of an afternoon for a birthday or a catch-up.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Talli House, 21 miles away. Sleeps 4; next free Fri 30 Oct to Sun 1 Nov.
Book afternoon tea at the Fox and Willow by phone on 01292 262846 at least 48 hours ahead, for about 2.45pm after Rozelle House: it's served every day from noon to 4pm, from £21 a person at the time of writing, and the Fox and Willow is shut on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
-large-1764155260.jpg)
The day
Ayr
An easy afternoon on the leafy south side of Ayr. An hour or so among the paintings in a Georgian house, a turn round its park, then a long afternoon tea a few minutes away.
About three hoursAbout 0.5 miles on foot
Rozelle House Museum and Galleries
Rozelle is on Monument Road, and its car park is free. Rozelle House is a Georgian mansion run by the council as a museum and gallery, and it's free to go in. It opens Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, and on Sundays from noon. Inside are paintings from Alexander Goudie's series of 54 on Burns's poem Tam o' Shanter, and a bronze reclining figure by Henry Moore on the ground floor. The Maclaurin Art Gallery, in the old stables and servants' quarters next door, has changing exhibitions. There's an accessible toilet, and a wheelchair to borrow if you ask. Give it an hour or so, with a wander round the trees and sculptures behind the house.
5 min by car
The Fox & Willow
Afternoon tea
Then it's 5 minutes' drive north to the Fox and Willow at 46 Carrick Road for afternoon tea, served every day from noon to 4pm in rooms of velvet booths and animal portraits, from £21 a person at the time of writing. Book by phone on 01292 262846 at least 48 hours ahead. Dogs are allowed in the bar on a lead, not in the restaurant. If you can't book in time, Rozelle's own tearoom downstairs does lunches and baking, open daily until 4.30pm.
If it rains
Both halves are indoors: on a wet afternoon, skip the walk round the park behind Rozelle House and give the galleries longer.
Photograph by John Inglis via Google