The gateway to Scotland, Dumfriesshire offers much of the beauty and variety that can be found in Scotland's countryside, towns and villages. Entering from the English border, you pass through the fertile farmland along the shores of the Solway Firth and to the north you can see the rounded Border hills with the valleys clothed in the forests of Eskdalemuir. Then to the north west are the Lowther hills, heather clad and steep with the swift flowing bums and rivers like the Annan and the Nith, both renowned for salmon and sea trout fishing.

The burgh of LANGHOLM is a truly Border town situated on the Border Esk (famous for sea trout fishing) and also for good shopping, especially for tweeds and woollens.

GRETNA GREEN and GRETNA, right on the border are the home of the Old Blacksmith's Shop centre, the country's favourite wedding venue of the past and the present, and the new Gretna Gateway outlet for world famous brands.

MOFFAT is an excellent place to enjoy your holiday shopping - plenty of interesting shops and eating places - and just up the road to Edinburgh the ominous Devil's Beef Tub.

THORNHILL, the centre of mid Nithsdale, is also an attractive shopping town and is near Dnimlanrig Castle, which is open to the public with some marvellous paintings and historic treasures and also an Adventure Woodland Playground, Picnic Area, working Craft Centre, etc.

DUMFRIES is the main centre of Dumfries and Galloway and has much to offer, including the Aviation Museum, the Observatory Museum, Robert Burn's House and Centre (and his pub - the Globe Inn), a swimming pool, three golf courses and the oldest theatre in continuous use in the country. A short drive will take you to Caerlaverock Castle, a real stronghold which resisted King Edward I but still has much beautiful stonework, or to Ellisland Farm where Robert Bums farmed and wrote his world famous poetry, or to New Abbey with a working Corn Mill and Shambellie House Museum of Costume.