About the location
KIRKCOWAN
Newton Stewart 7 miles; Wigtown 8 miles.
Kirkcowan is a rural village in Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, set in the rolling Galloway countryside at the confluence of two salmon rivers, the Bladnoch and the Tarf. The village is named after a church, or kirk, whose churchyard hosts an interesting collection of headstones dating from the 1700s. In the 1800s, there was a healthy weaving industry here and a water-powered mill to help process the woollen cloth. The village today has a shop, a Post Office, church, children's play area, bowling green, village hall, doctor’s surgery, bicycle hire and the Craighlaw Arms Hotel, a 200-year old coaching inn. The nearby town of Newton Stewart has a sports centre, cinema, museum, library, hospital, supermarkets, shops and restaurants. Popular with walkers and anglers, Kirkcowan is situated on the 25-mile Yellow Cycle Route of the National Cycle Route 7, also making it a good holiday base for cyclists. It is surrounded by a network of quiet lanes, ideal for cycling, and for the more adventurous, it’s just 10 miles from the renowned Seven Stanes mountain biking trails of Galloway Forest Park. The Machars Peninsula has a varied coastline, including coastal grazing marshes and sandy beaches. It incorporates Wigtown, Scotland’s Book Town, as well as ancient Whithorn and its priory. Here you can discover the story of St Ninian who established Whithorn as his base, when he introduced Christianity to Scotland at the end of the 4th century. Wildlife abounds in the area, with opportunities to spot ospreys, red kites, deer and red squirrels, and you can also enjoy stargazing, as some of the darkest skies in Europe can be seen here. With superb walking, cycling and horse riding opportunities to be found across the peninsula, as well as excellent coarse fishing on the nearby Glendarroch Loch, there is much on offer for the visitor to this distinctive and varied part of the country.
