Coastal lodge near Dalbeattie with loch views
123 miles NNW ~2h 30m min drive G84 9AJ
Hill House is over 2 hours drive from Sandyhills, but if you’re a fan of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and/or art nouveau it’s definitely worth it! The house is a true piece of art, and so it’s a fascinating experience to visit.
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Loch Arthur farm shop, near Beeswing in D&G, offers a great selection of crafts, gifts, and locally produced organic fruit and vegetables, plus pantry staples.
11 miles N ~17 min drive Beeswing, DG2 8JQ
There’s also a pleasant little café that offers a range of delicious items including homemade cakes.
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Culzean (pronounced “cull-ane”, not “cull-zeen”) is a fair drive from the Lodge, however it’s well worth the effort to visit this amazing castle and country park. We set off around 9:30am and arrived at Culzean Castle at about 11:15am.
The huge grounds have a number of different car parks spread out over the estate.
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Distance from the lodge:
2 miles E ~5 min drive DG5 4PA
Mares Braids Waterfall, also known as Back Burn (sometimes Backburn) Waterfall, is just a short drive from Serenity 22 Barend, by the A710 heading E from Sandyhills. It’s near the Southwick Coastal Reserve and RSPB Mersehead on the Solway Coast.
⚠️ This walk is only accessible when the tide is out so you must check the tide times before going. The tides near Sandyhills move very quickly, and people have been trapped by them. ⚠️
13 miles WNW ~20 min drive DG7 1DZ
Designs Gallery & Cafe in King Street, Castle Douglas – established for over 25 years – serves coffees, cakes and lunches (see a picture of the menu below).
We’d been in shop before but didn’t notice the entrance to the café (it’s to the right of the steps in the middle of the shop)!
Go down the stairs through some doors to the ‘basement’ and then the café counter is on your left. Tables then extend on your right all the way to the back of the building. At the end of the room, through some double doors, there’s also a light and airy (but still warm in colder weather) conservatory that leads out into the garden.
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8 miles E ~17 min drive DG2 8BG
We spent an afternoon Rock Climbing with Daniel Johnston at Powillimount Beach and thoroughly enjoyed it – despite the cold, hail and snow at various points in the afternoon!
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Distance from the lodge:
5 miles WSW ~11 min drive DG5 4LB
As soon as we heard about the walk to Rough Island, we looked forward to exploring the island. (We’ve previously done a similar walk to Davaar Island off Campbeltown, Kintyre.)
This area of the Solway Coast has such shallow seas that there are vast mudflats when the tide is out.
Rough island is about 3 miles / 5km from from Serenity 22 Barend “as the crow flies”.
⚠️ Check when to avoid crossing as the causeway is underwater for 5 (five) hours during high tide.
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June 2024: Luigi’s is closed 😞
Check out other places to eat near the lodge.
We visited Luigi’s Italian Restaurant on a midweek evening. It’s a small restaurant so we booked a table, but we could have just turned up as it was fairly quiet.
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The Dark Space Planetarium is an interesting experience if you enjoy all things Space related!
It’s just over half an hour’s drive away from Serenity 22 Barend, in Kirkcudbright (24 miles WSW ~37 min drive DG6 4EG).
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Many years ago, before we had our children, we visited Dumfries & Galloway with another couple and camped at Hoddom Castle near Ecclefechan. During that holiday we visited Threave Castle, but at the time we didn’t know about Threave Gardens.
We discovered it a few years back when looking for a holiday cottage near Castle Douglas and ended up staying at the Gate Lodge. That holiday eventually led to us getting the lodge at Barend!
Threave Garden & Estate is a great day out and one of the highlights for us was seeing red squirrels!
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