Life has been so busy lately. The days are slipping by so quickly and I’ve not had a chance to write a blog for a few weeks – and this is one I’ve been desperate to share with you. Towards the end of January we were very lucky to be invited to spend a weekend at Summerhill Farm Stays in Dumfries and Galloway: one of Scotland’s hidden gems that I’ve wanted to visit for years.
We’d mainly just seen Dumfries and Galloway from the motorway on our way north, aside from the odd stop off for a leg stretch at the Grey Mare’s Tail or Gallow Hill, and during our weekend there it completely lived up to my expectations and more. Galloway Forest Park is a popular destination for dog walkers and mountain bikers, there are plenty of hills over 2000 feet for hikers, and it has a quiet and unspoiled coastline with some beautiful sandy beaches.
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Towards the end of last year Holly from Summerhill Farm reached out to tell us about their plans for some new luxury lodges on their farm in the Glenkens. Even before the lodges were in place we were really keen to visit, being able to see the enormous potential of the site Holly and Nick had chosen, and wanting a chance to properly explore what we knew was a lovely area. Fast forward to the turn of the year and the lodges were up and ready to start welcoming visitors.
Packed and ready to set off, our plans were delayed a day by Storm Eowyn. With a red weather warning in place in South West Scotland and an amber warning the rest of the way there, we ended up making the call to wait a day before setting out. It was a hard decision to set off later than planned, but definitely the right choice from a health and safety perspective – driving up on the Saturday morning we passed an unbelievable number of fallen trees, which we were very glad to be passing when they had already fallen rather than risking getting trapped under one. We managed to get nearly all the way there without a delay: 15 minutes away we ended up stopping for 40 minutes while we waited for two trees to be moved off the road. So close!
Trees cleared, we were back on our way. As we got closer to Summerhill we started passing signs for the Galloway Kite Trail, and we saw at least a dozen Red Kites in the 15 minutes it took us to travel the rest of the way there. Red Kites were re-introduced to the area in 2001 and seem to be absolutely thriving: there are a few feeding stations nearby which you can visit to get up close to these handsome birds. There was even a Kite flying over our lodge when we arrived!
We stayed in The Barn, Summerhill’s dog friendly lodge, which was gorgeous and completely blew my expectations out of the water. The lodge is a spacious open plan layout, with two floor to ceiling windows letting in plenty of light and showing off the amazing view to brilliant effect.
Sleeping two in an extremely comfortable, king sized bed, The Barn has everything you need to make a home away from home. The thoughtfully equipped kitchen includes a hob, oven and dishwasher, while the living area has a smart TV which you can connect up to Disney+ and Netflix via the complimentary WiFi. Not that you need to watch much TV when you can gaze out over what is probably the best view we’ve ever had from an accommodation. And don’t get me started on the extremely generous welcome basket, which was overflowing with tasty, locally produced goodies including honey, jam, pasta and millionaire’s shortbread.
Luggage deposited and revived by a cup of tea, we decided to head back out for a walk to make the most of the beautiful sunny weather. Being well into the day, we chose a short local mooch rather than a bigger walk further afield, opting for an up and down route up Mulloch Hill near St John’s Town of Dalry. This was just a few minutes down the road in the car – if we’d have more time we probably could’ve walked there from Summerhill.
The path up Mulloch Hill is part of a longer walk starting in Dalry, which also includes a stretch along the river as well as climbing the hill. This route was created in memory of Donald Watson, a bird artist who lived in the town and who loved this route. We definitely need to come back and walk the full thing, as the small part we did was stunning – it always feels like cheating when you haven’t walked for hours to get to a lovely view.
We parked for free in a roadside parking area at the foot of the path, crossing the road and passing through a gate to start the walk. Presented with a rather muddy sheep field and not much of a path, we were undeterred and forged on in the direction of ‘up’, and were rewarded with a faint trail which become clearer and more defined as we continued uphill. After the initial short climb the gradient eased off significantly and the lovely views started to appear in abundance. Plus a Red Kite or two!
It really didn’t take long to get to the trig pillar, from where we enjoyed fabulous views in almost all directions, looking down over Dalry and across to the Glenkens, which despite being in the depths of winter still managed to maintain a fairly vibrant green. Of course, there was the obligatory ‘dog on trig’ photo shoot with Merry, which lasted longer than the normal two seconds as a) there was no one else around waiting for their turn with the trig and b) there was a rather well-sited picnic bench next to the trig for Sam to have a sit down on. This walk definitely made us realise what a beautiful area this is, and firmly cemented Dumfries and Galloway’s hidden gem status in my mind. While there were sheep throughout the walk, there were no stiles and so we managed to stay relatively mud free with no dog lifting required!
Arriving back at Summerhill Farm, we immediately took advantage of one of The Barn’s best features: the hot tub. Both The Barn and The Byre have their own hot tubs, which are sited to look out over the incredible view beyond the lodges while still maintaining your privacy. Our neighbour the Red Kite treated us to another flying display while we were in the hot tub, which was a pretty surreal moment. The walk back to the lodge at the end wasn’t even that chilly, as we were able to wrap up in the dressing gowns which are thoughtfully provided for guests.
Sam discovered that he could connect up to Sky Sports on the smart TV, and so the remainder of the day passed with a bit of a football marathon while I made tea (some pizzas we’d picked up on the way). We had an early night, wanting to be up and out early to beat the rain forecast to start at lunchtime on Sunday, so that the dogs could have a good walk and then spend the rainy afternoon snoozing.
Sunday dawned optimistically dry, if not as bright and sunny as Saturday. As with all of our trips I’d brought the local Pocket Mountains guide book, and after a brief perusal we chose a 3.5km circular walk a short drive away. Our drive over took us through the edges of Galloway Forest Park and it was rather atmospheric, with lingering low cloud clinging to the tops of the trees. Sadly, I didn’t manage to capture it in a photo – it just looks cloudy!
Parking was free in a small car park just past the Wild Goat Park – as we drove past there was a small group of them hanging around near the fence, so we pulled over to admire them quickly before continuing on. From the car park we set out on a short climb up to the Murray Monument, an impressive granite obelisk which was erected in 1835 in memory of Alexander Murray, a local shepherd’s son who was a linguistic prodigy and who went on to become a Professor of Oriental Languages at Edinburgh university. The monument has rather nice views of the surrounding countryside, before the trail doubles back a short way to branch off onto another path.
The walk skirts woodland edges to join the Old Edinburgh Road, which was at one time a pilgrim’s road leading to St Ninian’s Cave on the coast (which coincidentally is on our list to visit next time we’re in the area). This road is now a well maintained forest track, very flat and level all the way to Black Loch, with an optional boggy detour along the way to view a small waterfall.
For a woodland walk, there’s so much to look at. As well as the monument, waterfall and loch, there’s a sculpture call The Eye at the water’s edge, which has an odd peephole in the middle and which Sam had a great time testing the acoustics of using said peep hole. But we still weren’t done: the route back to the start passes through an old sheepfold, which at first glance just seems like a small maze of old dry stone walls. Look closely though, and you’ll find some of the stones are carved into faces – I’m pretty sure it was Sam’s favourite thing from the whole weekend. We managed to find five, but there could be more…
Pleasantly tired from our walk we drove into Castle Douglas, where there’s a range of shops and supermarkets, to pick up some bits and pieces for tea. We timed our arrival back at Summerhill perfectly, getting in just before the heavens opened. There’s something very cosy about sitting inside and watching the rain come down outside.
Before we knew it, it was Monday morning and time to go home. Initially the forecast had been for non-stop torrential rain through to Tuesday, but miraculously as we left it stopped raining and a quick re-check of the weather showed a short dry window. Therefore we made quick detour on our way home to RSPB Ken Dee marshes, to follow another route from our Pocket Mountains guide.
Parking was free in a small parking area at the foot of the track running into the reserve. We were almost immediately greeted by a pair of does meandering down the path in front of us, who while maintaining a healthy distance, took quite a while to disappear completely. The reserve is a great place to come to see rare birds like Willow Tits and White Fronted Geese, as well as Red Kites (of which we saw at least a dozen in the 40 minutes we were walking).
The track runs along fields and into a small woodland on its way to the shores of Loch Ken: unfortunately, we didn’t get all the way to the Loch as a fallen tree was totally blocking the path. We did concede though that we’d done well to avoid fallen trees up to this point, and the plus side was that having turned around early, we managed to get back to the car in the dry. We’ll have to come back another day to stroll along the shores of Loch Ken!
Dog friendly rating: 4/5. Two dogs are welcome to join you in The Barn free of charge, and they aren’t forgotten in the welcome pack either, with treats, tennis balls and bowls provided. The outside decking area is fenced, but as the gaps are big enough for dogs to pass through and the lodge is in a sheep field, you’ll need to keep them on leads when you head out. However, Holly does helpfully provide information about empty fields on the farm where you can take your dog for a run around, as well as her recommendations for some of the best local dog walks.
Summerhill is a great choice if you have a dog reactive pup like Coal: as the neighbouring lodge is dog free and there’s no one else nearby, you can head outside without needing to worry about bumping into another dog. If you know, you know!
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