Just before Newton Stewart is the pretty village of Creetown, and in what was in a past life a garage is a great little museum, please see website for opening times http://creetown-heritage-museum.com/ Creetown was a 'ferry' town originally sailing pilgrims across the estuary, later the quarrying of granite provided employment. Within the museum are displays of  an old shop, a parlour, fishing, and wartime memorabilia. Oh and a Wickerman, yes the film was partially filmed in the hotel, and a bakers nearby. Well worth a visit to enjoy Creetown's heritage ..read more

  Glenwhan Gardens has been described as one of the most beautiful made gardens in Scotland with unique & stunning sea views across to the Isle of Man, Luce Bay, and the Mull of Galloway. https://glenwhangardens.co.uk ..read more

  Just passed the pretty village of Elrig with it's street of vernacular buildings is a turn for the House of Elrig, (Gavin Maxwell was born and raised there, a childhood home and book) and Barhobble ruins. Barhobble is a medieval ruin of a church/monastery that remained unknown until the 1980's and it's worth the short walk. On the Pilgrims Way it's associated with the nearby St Finians Chapel. Crosses found at Barhobble are in the Whithorn Trust Museum ..read more

  There are a surprising amount of small metal plaques dotted around Whithorn, to Jack Brent, for the Manse, for 'The Wicker Man' and as above in front of a house to Charles Lockhart who built the first commercial oil refinery. See PDF here he was the first to buy crude oil and refine it.  Charles Lockhart (1818–1905) was an early and leading figure in western Pennsylvania’s oil industry, rising, as his New York Times obituary said, from "kilt and barefoot" in his native Scotland to one of the wealthiest men in Allegheny County. With fellow Gilded Age titans John D. Rockefell ..read more

  The four thousand year old Cairnholy tombs are situated on a hillside overlooking Wigtown Bay. They are situated next to Cairnholy Farm. The site can be accessed at the end of a minor road about 1 kilometre from the A75 signposted. The two tombs lie within 150 metres of each other. Both tombs lie open to the sky as most of their original covering stones have been taken in the past to build field walls. See Wikipedia and Canmore ..read more

  I'm fascinated by place names, the origins of which tell so much of the people that came before and they tell of times before and a way of life. The Machars with it's proximity to Ireland, Cumbria, The Isle of Man and Wales, and that it's surrounded by waves has ensured that many foreigners trod, passed through and settled in this arable land. 'Machars' is Gaelic, machair, meaning 'low lying fertile land with extensive beaches'. Ninian, Nynia, is the earliest historical figure associated with the area, and he founded Candida Casa (white house/structure/shed) from Latin, Whithorn, 'white ..read more

  In Scotland a dovecot is known as a 'doocot', usually found beside large houses or castles, they housed doves or pigeons, which effectively were kept for meat, especially when scarce, eggs and feathers for pillows or bedding and also dung for fertiliser, dung was also used for softening leather. In Scottish mythology the destruction of a doocot would lead to a death of a family member within  year or in another version the lady of the house would die within a year. This may be the reason that a dovecot may remain long after the house or castle has gone. In this case the dovecot ..read more

Baldoon Castle 16thC is a ruin just outside Wigtown, it's on private land behind Baldoon Mains farm, but this little piece of the Machars is famous as the inspration of Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel, 'The Bride of Lammermoor' which tells of the tragic love affair of young Lucy Ashton and her fathers enemy Edgar Ravenswoodand, also inspiring the opera by Donizetti, 'Lucia di Lammermoor' see above. And a pre-Raphaelite artist (John Everett Millais, click here). Yes this is a very Scottish society scandal - 'Bloody Wedding Night Shock' seems like an appropriate leader screamer ..read more

Shaun Bythell The Bookshop is Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop, situated in Wigtown, Scotland's book town. It's more than just a second-hand bookshop, it's home to proprietor Shaun Bethyll author of 'The Diary of a Bookseller', 'Confessions of a Bookseller', and soon to be published, 'Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops'. I bought 'Diary' when we first came to the Machars and loved it, it's about him and the staff, the travails of running a book selling business and how he likes or sometimes dislikes dealing with the general public. Several years later, 'Confe ..read more

There were many fortified tower houses in the Machars this one at Sorbie must of been similar to the Isle of Whithorn Castle. This 16c buidling was probably built for Alexander Hannay. Sold to the Earl of Galloway in 1677 it became ruinous in the late 18thc.  In 1965 it was given to the Clan Hannay and is free to visit, has some picnic areas, a small motte and displays explaining the history, the clan Hannay and the ongoing refurbishment. Easy to find near Sorbie, car park. See Clan Hannay See Sorbie.net ..read more