Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 18 on 8/1/2005.

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Castles, books and single malts (Dumfries & Galloway)

Tom Gillespie explores Scotland’s hidden Dumfries & Galloway

By the time the Scottish Highlands reach the Solway Firth and the Irish Sea in Scotland’s southwest corner, they’ve lost their harshness and austerity.

The rocky Highland crags that shout defiantly at the sky have turned to rolling green hills that invite visitors in like a mother’s arms. The uncertain wildness of Skye and Glen Coe has become the welcoming charm of market villages like Newton Stewart and quaint fishing ports like Portpatrick.

Officially known as Dumfries and Galloway, the region is two hours south of Glasgow and Edinburgh and borders northern England to the southeast. Lying relatively undiscovered off the main routes to the northern cities, the region offers a more subtle Scotland than travellers find as the routes continue north to the Highlands.

Small farms, with their ever-present rock walls, known there as dry stand dykes, dominate a landscape where agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of the area’s land use. Forests cover another 25 per cent.

“It’s a gentler landscape, more welcoming than farther north,” says Lorna Young, a native who had returned to the area after having lived in the fast pace of Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, for years. Her red hair and fair skin hint of Ireland, which lies within sight to the west on a clear day.

“When you live in the big cities, you never get to experience the peace and quiet of this area. I never really relaxed until I came back.”

Ivan Bell returned in 1993 after he lived and worked for 30 years in Borneo and .....

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By Tom Gillespie

Section : Regional Focus

Page number : 35