Former Dumfries and Galloway farmworker's cottage to help save former home of Robert Burns
19.07.2023 - 07:47
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A former farm worker’s cottage has undergone a £230,000 refurbishment to help save the former home of Robert Burns for posterity.
Auld Acquaintance Cottage, in the grounds of Ellisland on the banks of the Nith just outside Dumfries, offers the only opportunity for the paying public to holiday at one of the national poet’s homes.
Bookings for the holiday let can now be made – with a seven night stay starting from £885.
All profits from the new venture will support the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust which is working to save the A-listed farmstead which is considered the poet’s most authentic surviving home and the only one he built himself.
Burns built the property for his young wife Jean Armour in 1788 and completed around one third of his songs, poems and letters there – including Tam o Shanter, Auld Lang Syne, Ye Banks and Braes and Killiecrankie.
Joan McAlpine, project director for the trust, said: “Auld Acquaintance Cottage offers a unique chance to immerse yourself in one of the places which inspired Burns.
“It’s so romantic and will allow guests to see nature through the poet’s eyes. While Burns and his family endured hardship at their farms, this cottage allows guests to experience the traditional surroundings and atmosphere, but with every modern comfort.
“All the profits from the cottage will be used to support the charity as we work to preserve the buildings and the museum collection, and in the longer term deliver a plan to turn the site into an international cultural attraction and education hub.”
Seed funding to obtain the initial permissions was given by the Museum Galleries Scotland Small Grants Fund and the trust was given support from South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) to remodel the mid 20th