Part of Bradt's distinctive, award-winning series of 'Slow' travel guides to UK regions, the new, extensively updated third edition of Dumfries & Galloway (Slow Travel) is the sole full-blown guidebook to this beguiling southwest corner of Scotland. With intimate detail and insider tips from two southern Scotland experts, it reveals one of the country's best-kept secrets through lively descriptions, historical anecdotes and hand-picked accommodation recommendations. John Paul Jones, the 'Father of the United States Navy', was born here; his restored cottage is open to the public. Astronaut Neil Armstrong came to explore his connections at the Clan Armstrong Museum. The town of Lockerbie is home to the American sport of pickleball, while Dumfries had strong shipping links with North America during the 18th century. And it was from riverbanks river south of Dumfries that many thousands left for the New World. Two hours from Edinburgh and Glasgow (whose airports receive direct flights from Chicago, Atlanta, Florida and the eastern seaboard), Dumfries and Galloway is an area of grand views, peace and isolation, bustling harbourside towns, craft shops and galleries, cafes and restaurants, mountains and coast, wildlife and outdoor pursuits? Even the weather can defy expectation, for the far west is warmed by the Gulf Stream. You can be at Scotland's highest village in the morning, on a deserted sandy beach in the afternoon, and in a Dark Sky Park, gazing at the stars, in the evening. And the region is also home to Scotland's 'big five' iconic animals: golden eagle, red squirrel, harbour seal, red deer, and European otter. Human-related curiosities complement such natural wonder. Samye Ling was the first Tibetan monastery established in the west; the Famous Blacksmith's Shop at Gretna Green still hosts a thousand marriages a year ? and not just eloping couples either; Hallmuir Chapel is a WWII Ukrainian place of worship in the Dumfriesshire Dales; and Dumfries itself contains the house where Robert Burns, Scotland's national bard, spent his last three years. Whatever your interest, Bradt's Dumfries & Galloway (Slow Travel) is an ideal companion for a successful trip. AUTHORS: Donald Greig first visited Dumfries and Galloway when five weeks old and has been returning ever since. Some of his earliest memories are from the region: bluebells in spring in Carstramon Wood at Gatehouse-of-Fleet, beach holidays at Sandgreen and Rockcliffe, fish and chips by the harbour at Kirkcudbright? simple pleasures that continue to attract visitors today as they did 40 years ago. From 2013?23 he lived in Moffat in the northeast corner of the region, before migrating 40 minutes into the Scottish Borders region. A travel publisher by trade, including seven years as Bradt's managing director, he has spent much of his life globetrotting but is now settled in Scotland's Southern Uplands, where he juggles writing assignments for a range of national publications (including Scotland on Sunday, Independent on Sunday, Wanderlust, BBC Countryfile and The List) with community and landowner engagement across southern Scotland. Darren Flint is a relative newcomer to the area, settling in Dumfries and Galloway in 2013, yet he was hooked from the outset. Over the subsequent decade, he helped with a host of community and environmental projects, from caring for Castle Loch nature reserve to developing new play parks, running a B&B and developing a new long-distance path. Now rooted in Scotland's Southern Uplands, he is an avid naturalist with a particular fascination for butterflies and ? along with getting his hands dirty with practical habitat-conservation work out in the field ? he likes nothing better than donning his walking boots and uncovering those hidden corners we all dream about. Flint has co-written two walking guides to the region, as well as Bradt's Dumfries & Galloway (Slow Travel). 66 colour photos, 14 maps
