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A row of pastel-painted terraced houses with dormer bay windows and chimney pots lines a quiet street.
Dumfries and Galloway

Kirkcudbright

A harbour town of painted houses that has been full of artists for a century.

Welcome

Kirkcudbright is painted.

The houses along the High Street and Castle Street are pink, ochre, blue and green, and the town has looked like this long enough that the colour is the point rather than a fashion. Artists have been coming since about 1880 and kept coming for a century: E A Hornel, one of the Glasgow Boys, bought Broughton House on the High Street in 1901 and made the town's reputation, and Jessie M King followed on his advice in 1908, buying a house up the street that she called Greengate. Charles Oppenheimer, William Mouncey, E A Taylor and Peploe all worked here. What is left is a town that takes pictures seriously: Broughton House, the Kirkcudbright Galleries, the Harbour Cottage Gallery on the waterfront, and a tolbooth and a ruined castle to look at between them. It is pronounced kir-COO-bree.

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The Daily for 31 October, from Scotland with love. A ring of standing stones set among mist and autumn birch
Before you go
How long
Three hours to a day
Cost
Free
Getting there
Car parks off the High Street; the town is walkable end to end.

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Did you know

A row of pastel-painted terraced houses with dormer bay windows and chimney pots lines a quiet street.
Did you know

A hundred years of painters.

The artists' colony ran from about 1880 to about 1980, and drew Hornel, Jessie M King, Charles Oppenheimer, E A Taylor, William Mouncey and Peploe.

A street of terraced houses painted in maroon, white and pink runs downhill past a wooded slope, a lamppost standing at the corner.
Did you know

Hornel started it.

E A Hornel, one of the Glasgow Boys, bought Broughton House on the High Street in 1901; the colony would not have grown the way it did without him.

A row of colourfully painted terraced houses lines a street, cars parked along the kerb and a church spire visible in the distance.
Did you know

Jessie M King came on his advice.

She first visited about 1903 and in 1908 bought an eighteenth-century house on the High Street, which she called Greengate.

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Where it is

On the Dee estuary, ten miles south-west of Castle Douglas.

Close byThe rest of Dumfries and Galloway, near at hand.
  1. Woman stands outside Pleat, Suneeta Rathore's shop with yellow doorPleat, KirkcudbrightUnder a mile 1 min by road
  2. Jake Irving CeramicsJake Irving CeramicsA potter's shop on St Mary Street in Kirkcudbright, with hand-made pottery in sea blues and greens and little glazed animal figures.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. The Whitehouse GalleryThe Whitehouse GalleryA contemporary art and craft gallery on St Mary Street in Kirkcudbright, showing over 200 artists, with changing exhibitions.Under a mile 1 min by road
  4. A woman in a black puffer jacket and floral scarf smiles at an outdoor café table, a shopfront window behind her.Kirkcudbright Art ToursA walk round the artists' town with somebody who knows whose door is whose.Under a mile 1 min by road
  5. Paul Jones BakeryPaul Jones BakeryA traditional bakery on St Cuthbert Street in Kirkcudbright, known for its pies, scones, cakes and loaves.Under a mile 1 min by road
  6. Lily Knowles FloristLily Knowles FloristA family-run florist at 20 St Cuthbert Street in Kirkcudbright, open since 2006, with fresh cut flowers and locally made chocolates.Under a mile 1 min by road
Directions
Pink-washed townhouse with round gable window and black railingsAttractionsBroughton House & Garden0.4 miles
Gallery walls hung with framed paintings of horses and Highland cattleAttractionsHarbour Cottage Gallery0.5 miles
Ruined stone abbey arches rise above misty grounds with a stone benchAttractionsDundrennan Abbey6.2 miles
An aerial view shows a ruined stone tower keep standing in a field bordered by trees, hills and a river visible in the distance.AttractionsCardoness Castle8.0 miles
Toasted cheese sandwich with bramble jelly, knife stuck upright in the breadRestaurantsGalloway Lodge Preserves8.4 miles
Ruined stone tower reflected in still water beneath a grey skyAttractionsThreave Castle8.5 miles
ShoppingPA Pop Up, Mill on the Fleet8.6 miles
Aerial view of a rocky headland jutting into the sea near a coastal villageAttractionsCarrick Bay9.1 miles
Gravel path lined with red roses leads to a stone urnAttractionsThreave Garden and Nature Reserve9.5 miles

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