Still in Ayrshire

As well as a host of fantastic golf courses Ayrshire, like most places in Scotland, has some wonderful castles to visit. One of the best is Culzean Castle situated 12 miles south of Ayr, the castles history dates back to 1569. More recently as a gesture of thanks from the Scottish people for America's support during WW II General Dwight Eisenhower was given a life tenancy of a flat within the castle  you can still visit his flat.

 Culzean Castle also has beautiful grounds, you can go on ranger walks, visit the walled garden, swan ponds, go bird watching, this is a day out for the whole family. You can also visit caves below the castle where centuries ago smugglers would store their booty. 

If you would like to get a real taste of castle living you can stay at Culzean Castle, in the Eisenhower at Culzean Castle, information about booking a room or the whole apartment can be found at the previous link.
While your around Ayr check the dates and visit Ayr Racecourse, horse racing in Ayr can be traced back to 1576, but the first organized two day meet was held in 1771.
As well as some fantastic places to visit Ayrshire has some great beaches, Ayr itself has a long sandy beach, but one of my favorites has to be Dunure it's beautiful and tranquil, just what you need after a day at the races.
I hope you find these travels interesting, please feel free to comment or ask a question or make any suggestions. Happy travels.

Ailas Craig

So where to next? There are a few more places in Ayrshire that are worth mentioning. Largs  is a nice town, set right on the coast. If you are lucky enough to be on the west coast between 1st and 9th of September then Largs is the place to be. That's when Largs holds its annual Viking Festival. This is a fun festival which culminates with the burning of the Viking Longship on the Saturday evening. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that? 
While you are visiting Largs why not stop in at Kelburn Castle. It's a fun place for the family, there are lots of kid friendly activities and large grounds to explore. When my kids were small we spent many fun days there, and they were always keen to visit.
If you love to visit stately homes then this should be on your list. HRH Prince Charles has recently become involved in the preservation of this old home. Dumfries House was designed in the 1750's and has an extensive collection of traditional furniture. Well worth a visit. 
Girvan is another coastal town that is worth visiting. There are many places to eat but fish and chips are a must here, you will find some great chippies. While in girvan you can take a boat trip to the Ailsa Craig. this is a large uninhabited island just off the coast which is excellent for bird watching. 
These are just a few of the places that are worth a mention around Ayrshire. Although it's not exactly a tourist Mecca, there are some fun and beautiful places to see. I grew up in Ayrshire, spent the biggest part of my life there and it wasn't till I started writing this that I began to realize just how many cool places there are. This link will take the Trip Advisor website where more places of interest are listed. 
If you manage to make your way to Britain, or if someone you know is heading there, I hope this will have been of some use to you. If you have visited Britain, or any of the of the places listed in this blog and have a comment please feel free I would love to hear from you. Or just keep popping in. Till next time.... Cheerio 

A fun exhibit of paintings inspired by the poets Robert Burns love live has opened to the public. The Man Who Loved Women is a collection of 12 new oil paintings, all produced in the last year, by Scottish artist Adrian Wiszniewski. The art will be on display at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire.
The museum includes the famous cottage where Burns was born, historic landmarks found in his work, and is surrounded by beautiful gardens.
If you are in the area the Burns Museum is well worth a visit.
Have a nice trip.

© Copyright Steve Partridge and licensed for
 reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The small island off the coast of Ayrshire is Arran, you can see it in the map below. This island is serviced by a ferry which crosses from Ardrossan to Arran. The ferry departs approximately every two to two and a half hours. For further information on Arran you can visit here; Visit Arran. 
Arran is a quiet island which you can easily cycle round in a few hours. There are hotels, guest houses, and Bed and Breakfasts, if you prefer to spend a few days there.
If you like to hike there are some beautiful walking routes. There are also many nice beaches, if the weather is nice. I like Arran it is quiet and relaxing and after a hectic schedule it's fun to relax there. 
But it's not all laid back living on Arran if you like excitement and adventure then this might also be the place for you. There are many places where you can indulge your adventurous side. Visit here;Arran Adventure to find out more. Arran has many fun places to investigate. Hope you have fun there.
Please feel free to make a comment. Or if you have a question about any part of the UK you just need to ask.

Home Turf

I have spent the last few days trying to decide where to start my journey. There are many places in the UK that I love so deciding my first stopping off point was hard. But like all good journeys I will be setting off from home. My home turf is Ayrshire in Scotland. To be exact I am from Irvine a town on the west coast.

Irvine is a medium sized town and although it has quite a nice sea side there is not a great deal to do there. Even though it is my home town I would not recommend a vacation there. But if you are in the area a nice place to visit is Eglington Castle. It has a lovely park around the castle ruins and a very pleasant day can be spent there. The ranger service organizes events and the brochure can be downloaded here Eglington Country Park.
As you can see from the map Ayrshire is situated on the west coast of Scotland and is made up of three areas. North, South, and East Ayrshire. The famous links golf course at Troon as well as Turnberry are both situated in Ayrshire. There are many other golf courses in Ayrshire and for further information about golfing in Ayrshire you can visit Golf Ayrshire. There are many golf courses situated very close to the sea
One of the biggest towns in the area is Ayr. I always enjoyed a visit to Ayr, it is a pretty town with a long pedestrian friendly high street. You can get there both by public and private transportation. Ayr is well served by buses and trains. The main street has many great shops and there is also some covered shopping. There are also many pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes. Ayr is also home to a Racecourse, a race schedule and information about Ayr Racecourse can be found here Ayr Racecourse.When we lived in Irvine and would visit Ayr we would occasionally enjoy a meal at The Chestnuts Hotel and Restaurant, Racecourse Road, Ayr. In my younger days I would regularly head to Ayr for a night out, but now I'm not sure where the trendy places are, but if the past is anything to go by you should have no trouble finding exciting nightlife in Ayr.

When I started this blog it was because I had to. I am a 48 year old woman going back for some further education. I have a great desire to work "from home" because I would very much like to travel with my husband. So I need a job that I can do online!
We have been married for 21 years and for 19 of those years he has had a job where he travels. And now I have two grown children, ages 20 and 18, and it is our time. I would like to be with him more, and see more of the world with him.
I am currently enrolled in a web design class. I don't know how this will go, and after doing an assignment which involved looking at developments in web design I don't know if I have the artistic ability to pull it off, but I am gong to try.
I have just completed a midterm which required me to, guess what, design a web page. It could be about whatever interests me, so I decided Scotland, that's what I know, and to my surprise lots of ideas came a flowing.
I was born and lived in Scotland till I was 36 years old, my husband is also Scottish and both my children were born there so you could say that it's all I've known.
So I think I might write some stuff about travelling and about Scotland and about the UK.

So here goes !!

Rumors abound about the new ipad 3 and the March 7 launch date. This video gives us an idea of what it will look like. Could it be true? I guess we'll find out Wednesday. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.