Things to do in Ayrshire

Ailsa Craig is an uninhabited volcanic plug rising from the Firth of Clyde approximately sixteen kilometres west of Girvan in Ayrshire, a great rounded dome of granite 338 metres high whose distinctive profile visible from a wide area of the Ayrshire coast and the northern Irish coast has made it one of the most recognisable landmarks in the Irish Sea. The island is famous as the source of the unique blue hone granite from which the highest-quality curling stones are made and as the site of one of the most important gannet colonies in Britain. The gannet colony on Ailsa Craig is one of the largest in the British Isles, approximately 36,000 pairs breeding on the cliffs and summit slopes of the island, and the boats from Girvan that provide access to the island during the summer season allow observers to experience the colony at close range. The noise, smell and movement of such a large seabird colony is one of the most extraordinary wildlife experiences available in Scotland, and additional species including razorbill, guillemot, puffin, kittiwake and peregrine breed on the island's cliffs. The blue hone granite quarried from Ailsa Craig has been used to make curling stones since the sixteenth century, and the specific geological and physical properties of this particular granite make it uniquely suited to the demands of the sport. The island's quarrying heritage, visible in the abandoned quarry buildings and the granite extraction sites, adds an industrial dimension to a remarkable natural and wildlife site.

Baltersan Castle is a ruined sixteenth-century tower house near Maybole in South Ayrshire, associated with a branch of the Kennedy family, the dominant noble dynasty of Ayrshire and Carrick throughout the later medieval and early modern periods. The wider area around Maybole is rich in Kennedy family heritage: Crossraguel Abbey, one of the finest Cluniac monastic sites in Scotland, is nearby in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, and the great Culzean Castle, rebuilt by Robert Adam in the eighteenth century, provides the most spectacular architectural expression of continuing Kennedy importance in Ayrshire. The pastoral landscape of inland Carrick provides a quiet agricultural backdrop to these heritage assets.

Barr Castle is located near the village of Lochwinnoch. The castle was a four storey tower house, with the main hall was on the first floor, accessed via a turnpike stair. The chambers were in the upper floors. The castle is now in ruins, and the gable ends of the castle have collapsed. There is little remaining of the courtyard.

Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran is the most visited historic building in Arran and one of the most historically significant castles on Scotland's west coast, a red sandstone castle on a hillside above Brodick Bay that combines medieval origins, seventeenth-century development and Victorian additions into a building of considerable architectural interest and important collections of art and furniture. The castle is managed by the National Trust for Scotland and the surrounding country park and formal gardens make it the natural focus of any Arran itinerary. The castle stands on a site that has been fortified since at least the thirteenth century, when the Norse-Gaelic lords of the island built a stronghold on this commanding position overlooking the bay. The medieval origins are obscured by the various subsequent phases of construction, most significantly the seventeenth-century extensions built by the Hamiltons, Dukes of Hamilton, who were the principal owners of Arran for several centuries and who developed Brodick into an impressive aristocratic seat. The Victorian wing, added in 1844 to designs by James Gillespie Graham, more than doubled the size of the castle and provided accommodation suitable for Queen Victoria's household when she visited in 1847. The interiors of the castle contain an exceptional collection of sporting trophies, Victorian furniture, paintings and silver assembled by the Hamiltons and their successors across three centuries of aristocratic ownership. The painted ceiling in the Duchess's Drawing Room, the armour display and the collection of Meissen and Dresden china are among the highlights of the interior. The castle passed to the National Trust for Scotland in 1958 along with its contents, preserving the collection intact in its historic setting. The country park surrounding the castle provides excellent walking through mixed woodland and formal gardens, and the views across Brodick Bay to the mountains of the island's interior are outstanding from the castle terraces.

Burns Cottage in Alloway near Ayr in Ayrshire is the birthplace of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, a thatched cottage of 1757 built by the poet's father William Burnes and the place where Robert Burns was born on 25 January 1759 in circumstances that immediately entered the mythology of Scottish cultural life. The cottage is the centrepiece of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, managed by the National Trust for Scotland, which combines the original cottage with a modern visitor centre providing one of the most comprehensive accounts of the poet's life, work and cultural legacy available anywhere in the world. Burns is the most universally celebrated Scottish writer, his poetry and songs known in translation across the world and his birthday the occasion for the annual Burns Night supper celebrated wherever Scots and those of Scottish descent gather in January. The cottage where he was born, modest and whitewashed, provides the most direct physical connection to the life that began here and that would produce some of the most beloved poetry in the English language and the world's most sung song, Auld Lang Syne. The surrounding Alloway village contains the ruined Alloway Kirk where the witches danced in Tam o' Shanter and the Brig o' Doon bridge over which Tam escaped the pursuing witch, both settings of the poem that Burns himself considered his finest work. The combination of the cottage, the museum and the Tam o' Shanter landscape makes Alloway one of the most complete literary heritage experiences available in Scotland.

Caprington Castle is located less about 2 miles from Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. The building is now a mansion with battlements - the original keep, and the original turnpike stair are incorporated into the current building. Caprington Castle has been the Cuninghame family for many generations. The earliest parts of the castle date from the 15th or 16th centuries. The castle was remodelled in Georgian style around 1780. Further renovations were carried out around 1820 in a baronial style.

Cloncaird Castle near Kirkmichael in South Ayrshire is a historic castle of medieval and later origin in the valley of the Water of Girvan, in the Carrick district of Ayrshire that was the birthplace territory of Robert Bruce, King of Scots and architect of Scottish independence. The various castles and tower houses of Carrick, including Turnberry Castle on the coast, are associated with the Bruce family and the network of noble allegiances that shaped the Wars of Independence in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The surrounding landscape of the Girvan valley and the Carrick hills combines agricultural valley floors with moorland uplands, and Crossraguel Abbey and Culzean Castle to the south provide the major heritage destinations of the wider Carrick district.

Culzean Castle sits on a cliff above coves, and is close to Maybole in Carrick, on Scotland's Ayrshire coast. The castle is three storeys high and is protected by a tall wall. There is an abundance of plants around it, and its clock tower is visible from outside the keep. There are many, many windows in both rectangular and arched varieties, and several chimneys are visible on the roof. Facilities Culzean Castle is open to the public, and also serves as a hotel with a number of private suites. It accommodates for weddings and receptions as well as business functions and the like. The earliest records of there being a tower on the estate are from the 1400s, but it is possible that there was a building there earlier still. It was once known as 'Coif Castle' or 'House of Cove' due to the coves lying beneath it. The history of Culzean on record stems from 1569 when the 4th Earl of Cassillis gave the Culzean lands to his brother, Sir Thomas Kennedy, who started to expand the tower in the 1590s. Culzean became more of a home than a castle and its gardens and terraces were constructed by the 1700s. Around this same time the name was changed to Culleane Castle. In the same century, the modest tower house was altered vastly and became the mansion of sorts that it is today. The castle was given to the National Trust for Scotland in 1945. The Arts Culzean featured in the 1973 film, The Wicker Man. It has also appeared in Most Haunted in 2002.

Dean Castle in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, is a medieval castle complex comprising a fourteenth-century keep and fifteenth-century palace in a country park of considerable scenic quality. The seat of the Boyd family for several centuries, the castle was restored in the early twentieth century by the eighth Lord Howard de Walden who assembled remarkable collections of arms, armour and early musical instruments now displayed within. The arms and armour collection is one of the finest in Scotland spanning several centuries of European martial culture. Dean Castle Country Park provides extensive grounds for walking, cycling and wildlife watching, gifted to the people of Kilmarnock and providing one of the most accessible and varied heritage and recreational destinations in East Ayrshire.

Dundonald Castle near Troon in Ayrshire is a dramatically sited medieval castle on a prominent volcanic hilltop in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, with panoramic views extending from Arran to the Galloway hills. The site has been fortified since at least the Iron Age and the present tower house was built in the 1370s by Robert II of Scotland, the first Stewart king, as one of his principal residences. Robert II and his successor Robert III both died at Dundonald, giving the castle royal dynastic significance in the history of the Stewart dynasty. The visitor centre interprets the site's long history and the great tower's impressive scale demonstrates both the defensive capability and domestic comfort expected of a royal residence.

Dunure Castle is located about 5 miles south of Ayr in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. Dunure Castle today stands in ruins on a rocky promontory. Dunure castle has been in ruins since the mid 1700s, and stones were removed for local building projects. This destruction was halted in the 1800s. The castle has recently been consolidated and is now partly accessible to visitors. From the 13th century, Dunure Castle was the fortress of the Kennedy family, the Earls of Cassilis. The castle dates to at least the 1200s when a stone keep was built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Firth of Clyde. The Kennedy family expanded the castle in the 15th and 16th century, and a curtain wall was built round the whole castle. New buildings included a kitchen range, chapel, great hall, prison as well as living accommodation. In 1429 a meeting took place at Dunure between James Campbell, representing King James I of Scotland and John MacDonald, representing the Lord of the Isles. MacDonald was killed, and James I had Campbell put to death in an unsuccessful effort to appease the Lord of the Isles. Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassilis, forcefully acquired church land during the Reformation in the 1560s. In 1569 he arranged for Alan Stewart, administrator of Crossraguel Abbey to be kidnapped and taken to Dunure Castle, where he was roasted on a spit over an open fire in the castle kitchens until he agreed to sign over the abbey estates to Gilbert Kennedy.

Eglinton Castle is a ruined mansion just south of the town of Kilwinning and 1.5 miles north of Irvine in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was the ancient seat of the Earls of Eglinton. The castle was built between 1797 and 1802 in Gothic castellated style with a central round keep and four outer towers. The Eglinton Tournament was held in 1839, a medieval tournament, attracting thousands of visitors. Eglinton Castle was abandoned when the family ran out of money building a harbour at Ardrossan. It was unroofed in 1925 to be used for target practice, and the shell of the house was partly demolished in 1973. All that survives is a single corner tower and some low walls. The ruins are near the Eglinton Park visitor centre.

Glenapp Castle near Ballantrae on the Ayrshire coast is a Victorian Scottish Baronial country house hotel of 1870, one of Scotland's finest small luxury hotels, with turreted roofline and richly textured stonework characteristic of the best High Victorian Baronial architecture. The castle stands in extensive private grounds above the coast with views across the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa Craig, Arran and the distant Kintyre peninsula. The gardens feature exceptional woodland walks, walled gardens and rhododendron and azalea plantings creating one of the finest private garden landscapes on the Ayrshire coast. The Ayrshire coast south of Girvan provides dramatic coastal scenery with Ailsa Craig visible offshore, and the countryside of Carrick, birthplace territory of Robert Bruce, provides a historically and scenically rich rural backdrop.

Greenan Castle is a dramatically situated ruined sixteenth-century Kennedy family tower house on a coastal clifftop south of Ayr, its walls rising directly from the cliff edge with the sea visible below and views extending north to Ayr and south toward Ailsa Craig. The Kennedy family's dominance of Carrick, including this coastal fortification overlooking Ayr harbour and the lower Firth of Clyde, was central to the medieval history of Ayrshire. The castle fell out of use following the decline of Kennedy power in the seventeenth century, and the combination of abandonment and coastal erosion has created the precarious and atmospheric ruin visible today. The county is the birthplace of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, and the Burns Trail links the various Ayrshire sites associated with his life and work.

Goatfell is the highest mountain on the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, a granite peak of 874 metres above the town of Brodick whose combination of the accessibility by ferry from the mainland, the extraordinary views from the summit and the dramatic granite ridge scenery of the northern Arran mountains creates one of the most rewarding mountain ascents available from any Scottish island. The National Trust for Scotland owns the Goatfell range and the combination of the mountain walking and the remarkable landscape variety of Arran, sometimes described as Scotland in miniature, makes the island one of the finest walking destinations in the Firth of Clyde. The ascent from Brodick through the Cladach woodland and across the moorland below the summit ridge provides a comprehensive tour of the Arran landscape from the lowland woodland through the open hill to the rocky summit ridge. The views from the summit encompass an extraordinary range of Scottish and Irish landscape, from the Mull of Kintyre and the Irish coast to the south to the hills of the mainland Highlands to the north, the Firth of Clyde and its islands spread below in a panorama of considerable extent. The granite ridge that connects Goatfell with the surrounding peaks of Cir Mhòr, Caisteal Abhail and Am Binnein provides a traverse of considerable quality for experienced walkers, the technical scrambling available on the Rosa Pinnacle providing an additional challenge in a setting of dramatic granite scenery.