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Dumfries: Dumfries is the largest town in the region and a popular stop for my people visiting the south of Scotland. I would have loved to explore the blossoming vegan food scene – especially the vegan menus at Cavens Arms and Mrs Green’s. There are also many other things to do in Dumfries, including the Dumfries Art Trail, the Dumfries Museum & Camera Obscura and the Crichton Gardens. If you visit, you are in good company:Bonnie Prince Charlie, William Wallace and Robert theBruce have all spent time in Dumfries as well!

We went to the Grapes for an evening of classic tunes and traditional music, the best Guinness this side of the Irish Sea, and lots of mingling with friendly locals. It’s the kind of pub, you enter as a stranger and leave with a bunch of new friends!The Maxwell Stuarts have lived in Traquair House since 1491, making it the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland. The whitewashed facade is strikingly handsome, with narrow windows and trim turrets surrounding the tiniest of front doors – in other words it’s a welcome change from other grandiose stately homes. Inside, you can see original vaulted cellars, where locals once hid their cattle from raiders; the twisting main staircase as well as the earlier medieval version, later a secret escape route for persecuted Catholics; a carefully camouflaged priest’s hole; and even a priest’s room where a string of resident chaplains lived in hiding. In the museum room there is a wealth of treasures, including a fine example of a Jacobite Amen glass, a rosary and crucifix owned by Mary, Queen of Scots, and the cloak worn by the Earl of Nithsdale during his dramatic escape from the Tower of London. Ayrshire is rich farming country, with fewer sights than its neighbours; almost everything of interest is confined to the coast. The golf courses along its gentle coastline are among the finest links courses in the country, while fans of Robert Burns could happily spend several days exploring the author’s old haunts, especially at Ayr, the county town, and the nearby village of Alloway, the poet’s birthplace. The landscape along the River Tweet is what made Sir Walter Scott buy the estate of Abbotsford House and make this area his home. One of his favourite viewpoints in the area is now known as Scott’s View and offers a magnificent vista of the River Tweed valley and the Eildon Hills near Melrose in the distance.

There are not many large roads going from east to west in the south of Scotland. We followed the winding A708 from Selkirk to Moffat. This road runs right through the Moffat Hills, a range within the Southern Uplands, and is a scenic experience that rivals that of a Highlands road trip. Stop 1: Grey Mare’s Tail Nature Reserve The entrance to Rosslyn Chapel includes an exhibition at the visitor centre and entrance to the chapel. Inside the chapel, there are staff members to answer your questions and regular demonstrations to bring to life the time period in which the chapel was built.

Begin the day in Wigtown, Scotland’s first “National Book Town.” Sheer heaven for bookworms, this village has no fewer than a dozen book-related businesses within very close proximity, including The Bookshop, the largest secondhand one in Scotland. In between browsing, it would be a crime against cakes not to visit ReadingLasses Bookshop and Café for a hot drink and a decadent delight. (The huge, ever-changing selection here might include masterpieces like ras el hanout sponge cake topped with rosewater glace icing.)

A heady mix of wild places and culture, Scotland is more than the sum of its parts: idyllic island beaches; raw and beautiful glens; untamed wildlife; historic cities. Whether you want to let your hair down at a folk music festival, sample oysters at Loch Fyne or seek solitude on a Munro, use our map of Scotland to start planning your trip. The final stop of the day is Stranraer, a coastal town on the shores of Loch Ryan. You can walk along the refurbished pier and glimpse views of Arran and Ailsa Craig. But in recent times, the town has become increasingly well-known for its focus on music.

Many visitors are surprised to hear that the west coast of Scotland is blessed with fairly mild climate year-round – in fact, mild enough to allow palm trees to grow in people’s gardens! Abbotsford House, the former home of Sir Walter Scott – a significant figure of the historical fiction genre and best-selling author way beyond Scotland – might just be one of the most impressive homes in all of Scotland. It looks nothing like the farmhouse Scott bought here in 1812, but more like a fairy tale castle. These retreats were such that Tacitus writing (with hindsight) in ca 98 would claim that Caledonia was: “conquered then immediately thrown away”. Today, you can visit Abbotsford House and wander the surrounding estate and gardens. There is an exhibition and a cafe at the visitor centre and an audio tour leads you through the ground floor of the house, including Scott’s impressive library and his intimate study.

AD: Boudican rebellion by Iceni tribe and others in lower England, initially successful, subsequently stamped out by Suetonius Paulinus with great slaughter among the southern English tribes. One of the most majestic and beautiful castles in Scotland surrounded by beaches, woods and trails. AD: Hadrian’s biographer, Spartianus refers to serious disturbances in Britain when Hadrian ascended to power: “the Britons could not be held under Roman control” while the contemporary Cornelius Fronto tellingly records the probable demise of the ninth: “as many Roman soldiers were killed by the Britons at the beginning of Hadrian’s rule as by the Jews” (which cross-refers to the loss of the twenty-second legion Deiotariana in fighting in the middle east). Fashionable modern suggestions that the ninth were transferred elsewhere in the empire for a date with destiny can be discounted as entirely unrecorded and unproven. Drive toward Dumfries, and stop after 40 minutes in colorful Kirkcudbright (ask a local how to pronounce it!) on the coast for sea air and views of the 16th-century MacLellan’s Castle. After 45 more minutes on the road, you’ll arrive in Dumfries, following in the footsteps of Scotland’s most famous wordsmith and national bard, Robert Burns. Visit the Burns House (where he spent his final years), have lunch at the Globe Inn (the master’s favorite watering hole) and look out for his statue in the town square. We were feeling lazy and the rain did not help to lift the spirits – the whirlpool at our house did, on the other hand, so you must excuse that the next suggestion for your itinerary has not been personally tried and tested (yet).AD: Pliny the Elder (a reliable source) publishes his “Natural History” in which he claimed: “Nearly thirty years ago its (Britannia) exploration was carried out by the armed forces of Rome to a point beyond the neighbourhood of the Caledonian forest”. This may refer to exploration by naval landing parties. No trip to the south-west of Scotland is complete without a stop in Wigtown, Scotland’s national book town. Bookworms, in particular, will love it here and could easily spend all day browsing the plethora of bookshops.