Spring has sprung and with it a whole host of places to visit and things to do has opened up. Here are our top four picks for 2024 while staying at our luxury Portpatrick holiday house for 8 or one of luxury holiday cottages on Corsewall Estate, a country estate in Dumfries and Galloway.
Loch Trool
Loch Trool
Our favourite family walk is the circular route around Loch Trool. It’s about 5.5 miles but it is easy walking on a hard-core path and the scenery is stunning. It’s almost as you’ve been transported to the Highlands with Scots Pines, heather, waterfalls and lochs. It’s the scene of a battle where Robert the Bruce’s small army defeated the much larger English army. Cunningly, he lured them to the steep banks of Loch Trool and then drove them into the water. You’ll pass Bruce’s Stone near the start of the walk – a large granite boulder to commemorate the battle – which sits on a commanding position overlooking the loch and the battle site. When we last went, we took sandwiches to enjoy en route and we were spoilt for choice for decent picnic spots.
Loch Trool
Loch Trool is just over an hour’s drive from our luxury Portpatrick holiday house for 8 or one of luxury holiday cottages on Corsewall Estate, a country estate in Dumfries and Galloway.
Logan Botanic Garden
Logan is one of three outposts of the Royal Edinburgh Botanical Gardens. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, Logan is the most exotic, with many varieties of plants and trees including a large number from Chile – it has become known as the ‘plant man’s paradise’. The gardens are open during weekends from February for the Scottish snowdrop festival and is open seven days a week from April. It has the wonderful Potting Shed Bistro, which is worth a trip for lunch or afternoon tea in itself. You’ll get an excellent lunch (quiches, salads, soup) and make sure you save room for something sweet – the raspberry cheesecake is divine! Logan Botanic Garden is 25 minutes’ drive from our luxury Portpatrick holiday house for 8 and 35 minutes from one of luxury holiday cottages on Corsewall Estate, a country estate in Dumfries and Galloway.
Logan Botanic Garden – Totally Tropical
Ospreys at Threave
Just beyond the boat jetty for Threave Castle from March to September there is an osprey viewing platform which is manned by helpful and knowledgeable volunteers. The rangers were delighted to report in March that the ospreys have returned this year and the female has indeed started to lay eggs, so these will start to hatch in May. If you hit the right time, you might be lucky enough to see the ospreys’ nest complete with chicks.
An Example of Osprey Nest at Threave
Threave is just over an hour’s drive from our luxury Portpatrick holiday house for 8 or one of luxury holiday cottages on Corsewall Estate, a country estate in Dumfries and Galloway.
The Whithorn Roundhouse
We had a charming visit to the Whithorn Story during the Easter holidays. Whithorn is an hour’s drive from our luxury Portpatrick holiday house for 8 or one of our luxury holiday cottages on Corsewall Estate, a country estate in Dumfries and Galloway.
Although we arrived after the end of the last tour for the magnificent round house, all was not lost as despite our tardiness, Ruraidh, the wonderful guide was so accommodating and gave us the most fascinating tour. A full-size replica of an iron age dwelling, the Whithorn roundhouse is based on excavated examples found at the nearby Black Loch of Myrton which were extremely well preserved in peat and which date back to around 450BC. The Whithorn roundhouse sits in the grounds of the ruined Whithorn Priory in the town of Whithorn – the site of the earliest Christian church in Scotland, built by St Ninian in about 397 AD.
We also visited the museum to see a variety of intricately carved Christian stones found in Galloway including the Latinus Stone, which is Scotland’s earliest Christian monument.
The museum is open from 31 March to 31 October from 11am to 4pm and there are specific times for round house tours, which run currently at 11.30, 1.30 and 2.30, but it might be worth checking before heading over to Whithorn.
Whithorn itself is a charming town which is like stepping back in time to Georgian times – I could just imagine it lending itself perfectly to the film set of a period drama. We will definitely be back.
Come and explore Dumfries and Galloway and treat yourself to a stay in our luxury Portpatrick holiday house for 8 or one of our luxury holiday cottages on Corsewall Estate, a country estate in Dumfries and Galloway. We have availability in our charming self-catering cottages sleeping from 4 to 8 people with prices from £508 for a 3-night short break.