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A circular lawn with a war memorial sits in a public garden bordered by hedges, a red-brick clock tower building visible beyond the trees.
Dumfries and Galloway

Wigtown

Scotland's National Book Town, a small town on the Machars with bookshops around its square and a book festival every autumn.

Welcome

Wigtown is a small town on the Machars peninsula with a big reputation among readers: it is Scotland's National Book Town.

Around its wide square, with its round green lawn and war memorial, stand shop after shop full of books.

The best known is The Bookshop, with its green front proclaiming it the largest in Scotland, packed with antiquarian and second-hand books, and the festival runs its own shop, Number Twenty-six. Browsing from one shop to the next is the pleasure of a visit.

Every autumn, in late September and early October, the Wigtown Book Festival fills the town with more than two hundred events. Literary events and prizes continue through the year, including the Wigtown Poetry Prizes.

Round the cornerThe Open BookThe bookshop you can run on holiday.1 min by roadSee itWhite corner building with green trim on a street corner, signed The Open Book
Before you go

A town, open at all times.

The shops keep their own hours; the festival runs in late September and early October.

Known as
Scotland's National Book Town.
Festival
Late September and early October.
Events
Over 200.
Where it is

On the Machars peninsula, south of Newton Stewart; the bookshops ring the town square.

Close byThe Machars.
  1. Whitewashed cottage row with green doors and hanging flower baskets on a village streetWell-Read Books of WigtownA secondhand bookshop in Wigtown, opened in 2018 in the old Grapes Bar by Ruth Anderson, a retired QC, with a crime book club.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Vintage typewriter and stacked leather books beside a tartan-cushioned armchair in a libraryThe Book Shop, WigtownScotland's largest second-hand bookshop.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. Stone cottage with a green Celtic knot sign, seen through a leafy tunnelByre Books, WigtownUnder a mile 1 min by road
  4. Whisky barrels line a gravel path beside a distillery's glass-fronted timber buildingGalloway DistilleryGin made from scratch at Newton Stewart, with fir from the hills and weed from the shore.6 miles 10 min by road
  5. WhithornWhithornSt Ninian's town to the south.11 miles 16 min by road
Directions
White corner building with green trim on a street corner, signed The Open BookShoppingThe Open BookA step away
A woman with grey hair and glasses smiles beside a large tree trunk in woodland, wearing a green jacket with a round embroidered badge.AttractionsFreelance Ranger3.5 miles over the water
Landing craft 433 unloads vehicles onto a Mulberry harbour pontoon causewayAttractionsGarlieston Mulberry Harbour7.8 miles
Carved stone slab with cup and ring marks set among grassAttractionsDrumtroddan Cup and Ring Marked Rocks11 miles
Ruined stone abbey framed by a doorway, grass filling the roofless naveAttractionsWhithorn Priory and Museum11 miles

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The Daily for 21 October, from Scotland with love. a small wooded island reflected in a misty loch, autumn forest and hills along the far shore

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Read on

What we have written about it, the collections it is in and more in Dumfries and Galloway.

From the magazineWhat's On in Scotland: Autumn and WinterFrom the magazineDiscovering the nooks and crannies of Dumfries and GallowayFrom the magazineA Walk Through Scotland’s National Book Town - WigtownCollectionThe Prettiest Villages in Scotland
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