Themed Walking Breaks
We are able to design and provide a walking break to suit specific themes which may interest you.
Using our extensive knowledge of the area, we identify the best places to visit according to your interest or theme.
We then select accommodation to suit your budget and walk theme locations. Included in your tour pack is information on other places of interest and tea rooms / pubs during the day and restaurants / hotels for evening meals.
We combine it all with any other requirements eg. airport or railway station pickup, and package it all together into a themed walking holiday.
Just contact us and we will work out options and respond with a price quote.
Here are some examples of themes or types of features in the area which you might wish to visit during your stay:
Castles
Gardens
Nature reserves
National Trust / Historic Scotland places
Ancient monuments
Visitor Centres
Heritage trails
Museums
Famous People of the Area including Robert Burns.
Galloway Tourist Route
Rivers
Landforms and good viewpoints
Pub Lunch places
Restaurants and Tea Rooms
Coastal attractions
Brewery tours
Whisky Distillery tours
Family Walking Holidays
Ice Cream farm
and others …
Here are some of our existing Themed Breaks - just contact us for information on others:
Five Red Herrings Murder Mystery Tour
Based on a novel by Dorothy L Sayers - who said about the book, "all the places are real places and all the landscapes are correct"
To add an extra dimension to your holiday, we have decided to arrange a walking break with a unique murder mystery theme. We have used the Five Red Herrings book, set in Galloway featuring many real places still in existence.
The fiction novel was first published in 1931 and written the celebrated novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, who lived in Gatehouse and Kirkcudbright for many years. The book was also serialised in television in1974 with the lead role being taken by the actor Ian Carmichael. We have notified and obtained permission from the Dorothy L. Sayers Society to operate this tour and acknowledge the information found in the Society’s ‘Tour of Galloway By Car’ booklet.
The tour has accommodation bases in the towns of Kirkcudbright, Gatehouse of Fleet and Newton Stewart – all of which have many other attractions. This coincides with the book largely being set in Kirkcudbright and Gatehouse of Fleet with Newton Stewart being central to other significant locations.
As most of the places written about in the book are still here, reading the book either before or during your break will bring it to life. We can supply a copy of the re-printed book on arrival or you can easily obtain a copy from Amazon beforehand.
Some of the places mentioned in the book which you can see are:
Kirkcudbright
The Stewartry museum in Kirkcudbright often has a display of items relating to Dorothy L. Sayers and the Five Red Herrings. It is a good place to start your tour to get immersed in the history of the area.
The Tolbooth, now with an art centre, see below, has a short film presentation which also gives a good introduction to the artistic life in Kirkcudbright – which is prevalent in the book.
The McClellan Arms – known by another name.
The Tolbooth
Blue Gate Close – where the sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey stayed.
Gowan’s house in the High Street
Maclellan’s castle
Waters’ Lodgings and Studio
Gatehouse of Fleet
The Mill on the Fleet visitor centre has a display which shows former life in the town.
Anwoth Hotel now the Ship Inn
Murray Arms Hotel
Ferguson’s house and Strachan’s house – apparent locations.
Gatehouse station – 6 miles out of town.
Newton Stewart
Ellangowan Hotel, Creetown
The railway line route
The lead mines
The Galloway Arms, Newton Stewart
Also,
The murder scene!
Bargrennan near Loch trool.
There are more places mentioned but you can see already that it will be fascinating to re-live the goings-on of this fictional novel.
Luxury Accommodation Walking Breaks
By Luxury Walking Breaks, we mean walking breaks including accommodation in the best hotels or country houses of the region. We also have the knowledge and organisational ability to collaborate with other businesses to arrange any other luxury requirements you may wish.
We have arranged luxury cycling breaks in the past and tailored the accommodation and other aspects to suit. Apart from reasonable distance walks, there are always other things to see and do in the area – which we can advise on at a welcome meeting.
Please note, our service includes arranging the full walking and accommodation package for you, as well as providing advice or making any other arrangements you require e.g. booking golf tee times, spa and therapy centre bookings etc. can advise on at the welcome meeting at your accommodation.
As there are a limited number of top hotels and country houses in the area, please contact us as early as possible if you are considering one of our Luxury Walking Breaks - we can then discuss your requirements and secure accommodation bookings if desired. We can also arrange National Trust and other top quality self-catering cottages in the area if preferred.
To ensure you are aware of the standard of accommodation offered, we provide information, including websites addresses, on the 4 star hotels and country houses we have used.
National Trust Properties Walks
Central Galloway has five National Trust properties – all within a reasonable distance from each other. We use our local knowledge to arrange accommodation and design walking breaks incorporating visits to the properties – although one is offshore and inaccessible – and other interesting features between and around these properties.
Entry Tickets
If you are not a member of the Trust, we can arrange 3, 7 or 14 day Discovery Tickets which gives entry to the two entrance charging properties, Threave Estate and Broughton House. This would give you access to other NTS properties in Scotland during this period.
NTS Accommodation
Alternatively we can arrange accommodation at their mainly self-catering cottages i.e. 7 night breaks (Sat to Sat) or 4 night midweek and 3 night weekend Winter Breaks (17th March to end of October). We advise on the best locations from their menu of properties and check availability. We liaise to allow you to book direct and charge an arrangement fee which is added included in the Walking Tour cost.
The National Trust for Scotland properties are:-
Threave Estate - near Castle Douglas
Threave Garden, in the midst of the1500 acre Threave Estate, is famous for its breathtaking banks of daffodils in April. The peat, rock and water gardens provide superb displays through out the year. The fascinating Victorian house is also now also open to visitors during the season. You will find a visitor centre, licensed restaurant shop and plant centre within the Garden. Castle Douglas is just over a mile away.
Rockliffe - near Kippford
The Trust looks after a picturesque109 acre coastal site between the villages of Kippford and Rockliffe on the Solway Coast, known by the Victorians as The Scottish Riviera. The Jubilee Path is a fine coastal walk takes you between the two villages and beside the Moat of Mark, the site of an old fort with panoramic views over the River Urr Estuary and the nearby Rough Island, a bird sanctuary also owned by the Trust.
Broughton House – in Kirkcudbright.
This is a fine 18th century town house which was the home, gallery and studio from 1901 to 1933 of the artist E A Hornel, one of the ‘Glasgow Boys’. Open to the public, it contains many of his paintings, a collection of local history books and a major Robert Burns collection. Broughton House has an enchanting garden, heavily influenced by Hornel’s visits to Japan, which extends towards the River Dee.
Murray Isles – near Gatehouse of Fleet.
The Murray Isles are two small uninhabited islands in the Islands of Fleet between Fleet and Wigtown Bays. The islands are host to a colony of cormorants and are significant as a site for breeding gulls. Carrick Shore on the mainland is the best place to see the Isles.
Venniehill - in Gatehouse of Fleet.
This is a 3.5 acres site of wildflower-rich grassland with a hilltop viewpoint at the west end of the main street and managed to encourage diversity of flora and associated invertebrates. The hilltop is partially surrounded by a low earthwork, perhaps the defence structure of an old fort or early settlement. A separate hilltop walk is nearby.
Bruce’s Stone – near New Galloway – slightly further away and only included in 7 day tours.
This is a stone at a site near to Clatteringshaws loch and the Forestry Commission’s visitor centre. It is said that King Robert the Bruce rested against this stone after
using guerrilla tactics to defeat an English army here in 1307.
Theme Towns Walks
Dumfries and Galloway region has three theme towns, soon to be marketed as an 'Absolutely FAB', place to visit to highlight the unique Food, Artists and Books cultures within a relatively short distance in our region.
Castle Douglas market town is a food theme town in recognition of the large number of independent food related business, including butchers, bakers, chocolate makers. There are also many other independent shops which make it a popular place for visitors from outwith the area to visit for shopping and even sample the food.
Kirkcudbright has been known as an artists town since the 1800’s. The special light as well as the scenery saw numerous artists make their home in the town – and this is still the case. The fishing port has several art galleries, the county museum and other attractions which make it a popular tourist resort in the summer.
The last theme town was actually the first one constituted as a theme town, i.e. Wigtown book town. Wigtown was the old county town for Wigtownshire before local government reorganisation. There are over 20 book shops and related businesses in and around the town and you can easily spend a whole day browsing around.
Your accommodation will be in each of the three towns for 2 nights with the pre-tour night also being in Castle Douglas. We have both a 4 day and a 7 day tour in and around each of these theme towns.
