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A walk · Ayr

Alloway – A Cottage, a Roofless Kirk and the Brig o' Doon

About 1.3 miles on foot.

Burns CottageStartBrig o' DoonWhere you turn

Robert Burns was born in Alloway, just south of Ayr, in 1759, and the village has kept the places of his childhood within a short walk of each other.

The Burns Trail is a loop that joins them: the cottage, the Poet's Path, the old kirk, the monument in its gardens and the Brig o' Doon. It's about a mile and a quarter, on pavements and gravel.

Time
About an hour with stops: about a mile and a quarter.
The path
Pavements and gravel paths, with a flight of steps between the monument's gardens and the Brig o' Doon, and cobbles on the bridge.
Where to start
The car park at Burns Cottage, on Alloway's main street, where the trail starts. The Birthplace Museum's car park on Murdoch's Lone is on the loop as well.
When to go
All year. The gardens are at their best in spring blossom; from November the light goes by late afternoon.
Dogs
On a lead in the monument's gardens.
Children
A short loop with a giant sculpture on the Poet's Path. The River Doon runs under the bridge.
Toilets
In the Birthplace Museum when it is open.
Before you set out
The Trust's places keep their own hours.

The walk

Start at Burns Cottage, the long, low thatched house on Alloway's main street where Robert Burns was born in 1759. The trail is a short loop from its car park. The Poet's Path leads away from the village past the Timorous Beastie, a giant sculpture, towards Alloway Auld Kirk.

The kirk is a roofless shell with a bellcote on its gable, standing among old gravestones under big trees. Over the road are the Burns Monument and its gardens, where a ring of tall columns under a dome looks down on the river. From the garden a flight of steps drops to the Brig o' Doon, the old cobbled bridge that humps over the water between ivy-covered walls.

The way back passes the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and picks up the Poet's Path again to the cottage. It's about a mile and a quarter in all.

If it rains

It's short enough to fit between showers. The gravel stays firm, but the bridge's cobbles and the steps down to it are slippery when wet.

Before you go

  1. 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, 22 miles away. Sleeps 4; next free Fri 30 Oct to Sun 1 Nov.

Find out more

For further reading, before you go.