Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway (Scots: Dumfries an Gallowa; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, situated in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; the Scottish Borders to the northeast; and the English county of Cumbria, the Solway Firth, and the Irish Sea to the south. To the west, it faces the North Channel.
The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second-largest town, Stranraer, lies approximately 76 miles (122 km) west of Dumfries on the North Channel coast.
Dumfries and Galloway corresponds to the historic shire counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Wigtownshire, the latter two collectively known as Galloway. These three counties were merged in 1975 to form the Dumfries and Galloway Region, which consisted of four districts. The district system was abolished in 1996, when the area became a single unitary authority under the same name.
For lieutenancy purposes, Dumfries and Galloway is divided into three ceremonial areas: Dumfries, Wigtown, and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, each corresponding broadly to the former historic counties.

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Craigenputtock

Craigenputtock (usually spelled by the Carlyles as Craigenputtoch) is a farmhouse in Scotland where Thomas Carlyle lived from 1828 to 1834. He wrote several of his early works there, including Sartor Resartus. The estate's name incorporates the Scots words craig, meaning hill, referring in this case to a whinstone hill, and puttock, or small hawk. Craigenputtock occupies 800 acres (320 hectares) of farmland in the civil parish of Dunscore in Dumfriesshire, within the District Council Region of Dumfries and Galloway. The dwelling on the grounds is a two-storey, four bedroomed Georgian Country House (category B listed). The plot also comprises two cottages, a farmstead, 315 acres (127 ha) of moorland hill rising to 1,000 ft (300 m) above sea level, and 350 acres (140 ha) of inbye ground of which 40 acres (16 ha) is arable, ploughable land and 135 acres (55 ha) is woodland. It was the property for generations (circa 1500) of the family Welsh, and eventually that of their heiress, Jane Baillie Welsh Carlyle (1801–1866) (descended on the paternal side from Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of John Knox), which the Carlyles made their dwelling-house in 1828, where they remained for seven years (before moving to Carlyle's House in Cheyne Row, London), and where Sartor Resartus was written. The property was bequeathed by Thomas Carlyle to the Edinburgh University on his death in 1881. It is certain that for living and thinking in, I have never since found in the world a place so favourable. How blessed might poor mortals be in the straitest circumstances if their wisdom and fidelity to heaven and to one another were adequately great!

Corsock

Corsock (Scottish Gaelic: Corsag) is a village in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is located 8 miles (13 km) north of Castle Douglas, and the same distance east of New Galloway, on the Urr Water. Corsock House is an 18th-century country house remodelled by David Bryce in 1853. A later addition was made by Charles Stuart Still Johnston in 1910. The gardens are open to the public under the Scotland's Garden Scheme each Spring. Corsock Church was built as a Free Church in 1851-52 by local architect William McCandlish. It was extended in 1912 with a Gothic stone arch and chancel by J.A. McGregor.

5.4 km

Glenkiln Sculpture Park

Glenkiln Sculpture Park was a sculpture landscape in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. After one of the bronze statues was stolen all the statues except the Glenkiln Cross and reclining figures have been removed. It comprised six sculptures placed in a moorland setting around Glenkiln Reservoir. The sculptures were located around 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north-west of Shawhead, and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of the town of Dumfries. Between 1951 and 1976, local landowner Sir William "Tony" Keswick (grandson of William Keswick) assembled a collection of works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, and Jacob Epstein. Keswick worked with the artists in siting their works in a natural landscape, and commissioned works. On 13 October 2013, the BBC reported that Standing Figure had been stolen. All the sculptures except "Glenkiln Cross" have been removed for security reasons on police advice and are no longer available to view. The sculptures formerly on show are: Saint John the Baptist (1878) by Auguste Rodin Visitation (1926) by Jacob Epstein Standing Figure (1950) by Henry Moore King and Queen (1952–53) by Henry Moore Upright Motive No. 1: Glenkiln Cross (1955–56) by Henry Moore Two Piece Reclining Figure No.1 (1959) by Henry Moore There is also a memorial to commemorate the diamond wedding of Sir William and Lady Keswick and another to Peter Fleming the travel writer and adventurer, friend of the Keswicks, who used to shoot on the estate.

7.7 km

Stepford railway station

Stepford (NX864815) was one of the minor request stop stations on the Cairn Valley Light Railway branch from Dumfries. It served a very rural area in Dumfries and Galloway. The line was closed to passengers during the Second World War.