
The Globe Inn, Dumfries
Robert Burns's favourite inn, founded in 1610 on a close off Dumfries High Street, with his chair, his bedroom window verse, a whisky bar and a fine restaurant.

The interior of Threave Castle reopened to visitors on Saturday 1 August 2026, the first time the public could go inside the walls since 2022. Historic Environment Scotland has completed repairs to the 15th-century artillery wall and further work on its vaulted ceiling, along with high-level masonry inspections.
A safe access route now runs through the ground floor into the Great Hall. The castle sits on an island in the River Dee, 1.6 miles from Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway, and the island and wetland nature reserve have been open since April, served by two new jetties.
Archibald the Grim built the castle in the 1370s, and it stayed a seat of the Black Douglas family until James II overthrew the lords of Douglas in 1455. Access is by passenger boat, daily 10am to 4.30pm. Some conservation work continues.
A Hidden Scotland guideDumfries and GallowayThe forgotten southwest, dark skiesRead the guide
Robert Burns's favourite inn, founded in 1610 on a close off Dumfries High Street, with his chair, his bedroom window verse, a whisky bar and a fine restaurant.

A gallery shop and cafe on King Street in Castle Douglas since 1998, with books, crafts and jewellery and a cafe with a garden.

A family-run coffee house on King Street in Castle Douglas, with breakfasts, generous lunches, cakes and a warm welcome for dogs.

A cafe on the harbour at Portpatrick, open every day, with breakfasts, lunches, coffee and cake.

A cosy lodge for two in a sunny garden on the Dunskey Estate, with a bath under a camellia tree.

A lodge for two hidden in wildflowers and woodland on the Dunskey Estate, with a bath outdoors.

A lodge for four in Dunskey's listed cobbled stable courtyard, with a wood-burning stove.

The head gardener's house at Dunskey, for six, between two lochs and among the bluebells.
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Two Scottish trees are on the Woodland Trust's ten-strong shortlist for UK Tree of the Year, announced on 22 July.

A four‑year habitat restoration project at NatureScot’s Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve has successfully encouraged the return of marsh harriers, a rare raptor in Scotland, to the site.

Plans are progressing to restore Ellisland Farm, the historic family home of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, in Dumfriesshire.