Isle of Arran, Robert Burns & Dumfries House

Burrell Collection

• Robert Burns Birthplace Museum

• Scottish Maritime Museum

 • Riverside Transport Museum

• Dumfries House • Isle of Arran

These include the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum where we discover more about the early life of Scotland’s most famous poet and how it impacted his work. We visit the Burrell Collection - one of the largest art collections in the world built up by Sir William Burrell, a Glasgow-born shipping magnet, and donated it to the city as a lasting legacy of his life. Explore Dumfries House - a fine stately home in the Ayrshire countryside that HRH King Charles III has helped beautifully restore.  The trip is rounded off with a sightseeing day on the Isle of Arran.

Your Hotel - The Riverside Lodge Hotel is located on the outskirts of Irvine, near the Ayrshire coast. Overlooking a golf course, the hotel offers comfortable accommodation in pleasant surroundings.

• DAY ONE- We depart in the morning travelling to Scotland and arriving late afternoon at the Riverside Lodge Hotel, Irvine. 5 nights stay - dinner, bed & breakfast. Tea/coffee and biscuits on arrival.

• DAY TWO -We head into Glasgow today to visit the superb, newly opened Riverside Glasgow Transport Museum. Afterwards we travel a short distance out of the city to the Burrell Collection located in the heart of Pollock Country Park. The collection is named after its donor, shipping magnet Sir William Burrel. It is a diverse collection ranging from work by major artists to important artefacts from medieval, Chinese, Islamic and ancient civilizations.

• DAY THREE - Today we make the short trip to visit the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine. The museum hosts a collection of historic vessels to view as well as showcasing Scotland’s ship building heritage. The rest of the day is then free to explore Irvine at leisure.

• DAY FOUR - Our day begins with a drive south along the Ayrshire coast through Troon to Ayr, where we visit the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. The museum is a celebration of the early life and the enduring legacy of Scotland’s national poet and home to 5,000 Burns artefacts including his handwritten manuscripts.

In the afternoon we make the short trip to Dumfries House, one of Britain’s most beautiful stately homes and best kept secrets, with sumptuous interiors and furnishings all set around 2000 acres of land. Remaining virtually unchanged in 250 years, in 2007 King Charles III headed a consortium of charities to purchase the house in order to keep this historical jewel intact and accessible to the public.

• DAY FIVE - This morning we make the short journey to Ardrossan where we board the morning sailing for the Isle of Arran. The crossing takes around 55 minutes and on arrival in Brodick, the island’s main town, we have time to obtain lunch and have a look around. We have a short sightseeing tour of the island before we catch the return afternoon sailing Ardrossan.

• DAY SIX - After breakfast, we depart the hotel and begin our journey home with fond memories of our time in Ayrshire.