Dumfries and Galloway

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The southwest corner of Scotland, now known as Dumfries and Galloway (www.dumfriesandgalloway.co.uk), is a region set apart. Some folk heading north from England might pause to explore the Borders region, but few bother to exit the main Carlisle-Glasgow motorway. Yet Dumfries and Galloway have stately homes, deserted hills and ruined abbeys to compete with the best of the Borders. They also have something the Borders don't have, and that's the Solway coast, a long, indented coastline of sheltered sandy coves that's been dubbed the "Scottish Riviera"- an exaggeration perhaps, but it's certainly Scotland's warmest, southernmost stretch of coastline.

Dumfries is the obvious gateway to the region, a pleasant enough town that's only really a must for those on the trail of Robert Burns, who spent the last part of his life here. Further west, and even more attractive is Kirkcudbright, once a bustling port thronged with sailing ships, later an artists' retreat, and now a tranquil, well-preserved little eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century town. Contrasting with the essentially gentle landscape of the Solway coast, is the brooding presence of the Galloway Hills to the north, their beautiful moors, mountains, lakes and rivers centred on the 150,000-acre Galloway Forest Park, a seriously underused hill-walking and mountain-biking paradise.