Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sweetheart Abbey
Main St, New Abbey • April-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct daily 9.30am-4.30pm; Nov-March Mon-Wed, Sat & Sun 9.30am-4.30pm •
£4.50; HS •
T
01387 850397 • Buses from Dumfries every 2hr Mon-Sat, 3 on Sun; 15min
Sweetheart Abbey
takes its unusual name from its founder, Devorgilla de Balliol, Lady
of Galloway, who carried the embalmed heart of her husband, John Balliol (after whom
Balliol College, Oxford, is named) around with her for the remaining 22 years of her
life - she is buried, with the casket, in the presbytery. he last of the Cistercian abbeys
to be founded in Scotland, in 1273, Sweetheart is dominated by the red sandstone
abbey church, intact minus its roof. Standing in the grassy nave, flanked by giant
compound piers supporting early Gothic arches, and above them a triforium, it's easy
to imagine what the completed church must have looked like. he central square tower
is a massive, brutal structure, but the elaborate tracery in some of the windows and
flamboyant corbelling below the central tower clearly mark a change from the austere
simplicity of earlier Cistercian foundations.
ACCOMMODATION
AROUND DUMFRIES
3
Caerlaverock Wetland Centre
Eastpark Farm 8 miles
southeast of Dumfries along the B725, signposted just
east of Caerlaverock Castle
T
01387 770200,
W
wwt
.org.uk/visit/caerlaverock.
This farmhouse, run by the
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and with its own attached
observation tower, is in the heart of a remote, nature-rich
wetland. There are five bedrooms - some
en s
uite - and a
shared lounge, kitchen and laundry room.
£60
Ì
Marthrown of Mabie
Mabie Forest
heart of the forest this remote encampment offers tipis
and yurts (each sleeping four), a bunkhouse and, most
magical of all, a pair of beautifully thatched, replica Iron
Age roundhouses with a central log fire for cooking and
warmth. There's a wood-fired hot tub and sauna as
well as meals provided at the bunkhouse. Also in the
forest are superb purpose-built mountain-biking trails
run by the 7st
anes (se
e
W
7stanesmo
unta
inbiking
.com)
.
Roundhous
e
£17.50
/person; tipis
£70
; yurts
£150
;
bunkhouse
£19.50
/person
T
01387
247900,
W
marthrownofmabie.com.
Deep in the
EATING
Abbey Cottage
26 Main St, New Abbey
T
01387
850377,
W
abbeycottagetearoom.com.
Enjoying an
unrivalled view over Sweetheart Abbey, this tearoom is
renowned for its coffee, teas and home-made cakes. The
meals are excellent too, exemplified by the formidable
ploughman's lunch at £7.65.
April-Oct 10am-5pm,
Nov, Dec, Feb & March Wed-Sun 11am-4pm.
Nithsdale
North of Dumfries, the A76 and the railway line to Kilmarnock travel the length of
Nithsdale
, whose gentle slopes and old forests hide one major attraction: the many-
turreted seventeenth-century mansion of
Drumlanrig Castle
near
Thornhill
, just one of
three substantial country seats owned by the duke of Buccleuch. At the opposite end of
the class system were the miners who worked the lead mines in the neighbouring
Lowther Hills, to the east, now commemorated in the intriguing
Museum of Lead
Mining
in Wanlockhead.
Wanlockhead
From the Nith Valley 24 miles north of Dumfries, it's six miles northeast up the
striking Mennock Pass to
WANLOCKHEAD
, a remote and windswept spot in the
Lowther Hills
. Sitting at 1500ft, Wanlockhead is the highest village in Scotland.
Museum of Lead Mining
Toll Brae, Wanlockhead • Daily: April-Sept 11am-4.30pm • £7.75 •
T
01659 74387,
W
leadminingmuseum.co.uk
A visit to the
Museum of Lead Mining
starts with a brief foray into the main exhibition
where the miner's lives and working conditions are described with the aid of a few
