Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EATING
Hullabaloo
Robert Burns Centre, Mill Rd
T
01387
259679,
W
hullabaloorestaurant.co.uk.
A casual
restaurant on the top floor of a restored old watermill that
also houses the Burns Centre and art cinema. The menu,
particularly in the evening, is creative with a wide fusion of
styles such as crab with watermelon, mint, lemon and basil
for £6.50 and a big meaty tapas selection plate for £18.50.
Mon-Sat noon-3pm, Tues-Sat 6pm-9pm; Easter-
Sept Sun noon-3pm.
Ì
Nona Lous
Brooke St
T
01387 249996,
W
theoldschooldumfries.com.
Located in a converted
primary school among arts and beauty-related businesses,
this thoroughly contemporary tearoom bakes attractive
cakes (around £2 a slice), including a colourful seven-layer
rainbow cake. Old crockery and knitted tea and cup cosies
give the place a personal touch. Light breakfasts and
lunches too.
Mon-Wed & Fri 10am-5pm, Thurs
10am-7pm, Sat 10am-4pm.
Around Dumfries
Southeast of Dumfries, the medieval ruins of
Caerlaverock Castle
are simply
magnificent, as is the adjacent nature reserve and the early Christian cross at
nearby
Ruthwell
. On the west bank of the Nith estuary, the star attraction is
Sweetheart Abbey
, the best preserved of the trio of Cistercian abbeys in Dumfries
and Galloway.
3
Caerlaverock Castle
8 miles southeast of Dumfries along the B725 • Daily: April-Sept 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct-March 9.30am-4.30pm • £5.50; HS •
T
01387 770244 • D6A bus from Great King St in Dumfries (7 buses Mon-Sat, 2 on Sun; 22min)
Caerlaverock Castle
is a picture-perfect ruined, moated Scottish castle, built in the late
thirteenth century of the rich local red sandstone and preserving a mighty double-
towered gatehouse. During the siege of 1300 by Edward I, a contemporary bard
commented: “In shape it was like a shield, for it had but three sides round it, with a
tower at each corner.” Caerlaverock sustained further damage in 1312, this time from
the Scots, and again in 1356-57 from the English, forcing numerous rebuilding
programmes. he most surprising addition lies inside, where you're confronted by the
ornate Renaissance facade of the
Nithsdale Lodging
, erected in the 1630s by the first
earl of Nithsdale. Just six years later the earl and his garrison were forced to surrender
after a thirteen-week siege and bombardment by the Covenanters, who proceeded to
wreck the place. It was never inhabited again.
Caerlaverock Castle makes a good family day out, with a siege-engine playground, a
tearoom and an exhibition and video on the siege of 1300, where kids can create their
own heraldry. Waymarked walks in the neighbouring
Caerlaverock Wetland Centre
- an
area of salt marsh and mud flats abutting the Solway Firth - include one leading to the
earthworks of the castle that preceded Caerlaverock; en route, look out for the rare
natterjack toad.
Ruthwell Church
7 miles east of Caerlaverock
he modest country church at
RUTHWELL
houses the remarkable 18ft
Ruthwell Cross
,
an extraordinary early Christian monument from the early or mid-eighth century when
Galloway was ruled by the Northumbrians. he cross was considered idolatrous during
the Reformation, smashed and buried, and only finally reassembled in the nineteenth
century. he decoration reveals a strikingly sophisticated style and iconography,
probably derived from the eastern Mediterranean. he main inscriptions are in Latin,
but running round the edge is a poem written in the Northumbrian dialect in runic
figures. However, it's the biblical carvings on the main face that really catch the eye
- notably Mary Magdalene washing the feet of Jesus.
