Alloway

ALLOWAY, formerly a small village but now on the outskirts of Ayr, is the birthplace of Robert Burns (1759-96), Scotland's national poet. The first port of call is the Burns Cottage and Museum (April-Oct daily 9am-6pm; Nov-March Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; £2.80), the poet's birthplace, a low, whitewashed, thatched cottage where animals and people lived under the same roof. Much altered over the years, you can nevertheless gain an impression of what the place must have been like when Burns, the first of seven children, was born in the box bed in the only room in the house.

Ten minutes' walk down the road from the cottage are the plain, roofless ruins of Alloway Kirk, where Robert's father William is buried, and where Burns set much of Tam o' Shanter. Down the road from the church, the Brig o' Doon, the picturesque thirteenth-century hump-backed bridge over which Tam is forced to flee for his life, still stands, curving gracefully over the river. High above the river and bridge, towers the Burns Monument (May-Sept Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; same ticket as Cottage), a striking Neoclassical temple in a small carefully manicured garden and housing yet another museum. For the populist approach to Burns, head for the Tam o' Shanter Experience (daily: April-Sept 9am-6pm; Oct-March 9am-5pm; £2.80 for each video), on the opposite side of the road from Alloway Kirk, housed in a modern, faceless building that belies a marginally more interesting interior.

True Burns junkies might want to eat, drink and stay at the Brig o' Doon hotel on the banks of the River Doon (tel 01292/442466; £50-60), reputed to be another of Burns' drinking haunts. To reach Alloway from Ayr town centre, take the A1 bus (Mon-Sat every 15min, Sun hourly; journey time 10min) from Burns Statue Square near the train station.

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