The Life of Robert Burns

Dive into the life of Robert Burns, the worlds most famous poet! This tour we will visit everywhere from his birthplace to his final resting place. You will get the chance to walk in the footsteps of the great Bard, Robert Burns.

Imagine what it would have been like to be Robert burns.

Heading south-west from Glasgow we head down to Burns country to the place that the great bard was born. He was born in a little village called Alloway just next to the town of Ayr.

Once we get to Alloway we will start our journey into Robert Burns. We will park at the Robert Burns Birthplace museum. This is the perfect time to visit the Burns Monument and Gardens as well as the famous Auld Alloway Kirk which is the setting for one of Burns' most famous poems, ‘Tam o’ Shanter’. It is here that Tam was watching the witches and warlocks dancing and at the end of the dance because Tam thought they were absolutely amazing and rather intoxicated. Tam o' Shanter shouted 'weel done cutty sark' and on hearing this the witches gave chase to a rather drunken Tam and his horse Maggie.

You can then follow the path that Tam and Maggie ran when the witches gave chase, one in particular, Nannie who chased them from the Kirk to the famous Brig O’Doon when she managed to rip Maggie's tail off before they got away.

We will then visit the Burns Museum. With more than 5000 Burns artefacts it is the biggest collection of Robert Burns artefacts in the world. It also includes his handwritten manuscripts.

We will now visit the cottage that his father, William Burnes, built by hand in 1757, two years before the man we all know as the greatest poet to have ever lived was born. Robert (Rabbie) Burns was born on the 25th of January 1759. 

We will then head for Mauchline. This is a very famous Burns town in which Burns used to drink in the local pub, now called Poosie Nansie's. It was here that he was inspired to write poems such as Holy Willie’s prayer, The Holy Fair. Poosie Nansie's was also the setting for his poem ‘The Jolly Beggars’. It was also in Mauchline that he met his partner and then wife (or one of his many partners) Jean Armour.

In Mauchline you will be able to walk around and have a look in Burns house museum where he stayed with Jean Armour. You can also take a walk around the Mauchline Parish church grounds where some of his kids and other important people linked with burns are buried.

We will then head down to Ellisland farm where Burns leased it in 1788 for him to build a family home. He built a splendid six apartment house that was described as a modest mansion in that time. It is so unchanged that it lets us see exactly how Robert Burns and his family would have lived in the peak of his fame. It is here that he said the farm was ‘the poets choice because he could find inspiration here whereas he felt other farms lacked soul.

After we visit Ellisland farm we will head into Dumfries where we will visit his last house which he moved into in 1793. The Robert Burns house is situated on Burns street, it has 2 bedrooms, a parlour and kitchen area, it also has a small study where Burns could write, he stayed here before he died on the 21st of July 1796.

After we leave the Robert Burns house we will then go on to the St. Michaels church yard where the Great Bard himself is buried under a magnificent mausoleum. It is here we will pay our respects to the greatest poet in the world and we will be able to take in all the things we have learned during the day about Burns and truly appreciate him and reflect on him.

We will now return to Glasgow where the tour ends.