Holiday cottages in Wigtown

Wigtown is Scotland’s National Book Town, which for a place of about a thousand people means an improbable number of bookshops — second-hand, antiquarian and new — strung around a broad central square. The designation came in 1998 and the town rebuilt itself around it; The Bookshop on North Main Street is the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland.

Every autumn the Wigtown Book Festival brings ten days of writers, talks and events and fills the town. The rest of the year it is quiet, which is the other half of the appeal — a wet afternoon works through the shelves, a dry one goes down to the salt marsh below the town where the Bladnoch meets Wigtown Bay.

It sits at the top of the Machars, the peninsula running south to Whithorn — where St Ninian landed, the cradle of Scottish Christianity — and on to the Isle of Whithorn and the sea. Bladnoch, Scotland’s most southerly distillery, is a mile out of town, and Newton Stewart and the Galloway Forest Park are fifteen minutes north.

Things to do in Wigtown

Wigtown is Scotland’s National Book Town, and that is genuinely what you come for — a small town with more bookshops than seems reasonable, including The Bookshop, one of the largest second-hand bookshops in the country. An afternoon disappears easily.

The Wigtown Book Festival runs each autumn and brings authors and readers from all over; the town books up well in advance for it.

Wigtown Bay is the largest local nature reserve in Britain, with a bird hide above the merse. South of here the Machars peninsula runs down to Whithorn, where Christianity is said to have first arrived in Scotland, and on to the Isle of Whithorn and its ruined chapel by the sea. Bladnoch Distillery is on the edge of the town.

Getting to Wigtown

• Wigtown is about fifteen minutes south of Newton Stewart, on the A714 towards the Machars. From Dumfries it is around an hour and ten minutes, and from Gretna about an hour and three quarters.
• The nearest railway stations are Stranraer and Barrhill, both around forty minutes. A car is essential.

Common questions about staying in Wigtown

What is Wigtown known for?

It is Scotland’s National Book Town — a small town with a disproportionate number of bookshops, including one of the largest second-hand bookshops in the country.

When is the book festival?

Each autumn, usually late September into October. It brings authors and readers from all over and the town books up well in advance.

Are there dog friendly cottages in Wigtown?

Yes — look for the paw symbol on a listing.

What else is nearby?

Wigtown Bay is the largest local nature reserve in Britain, good for birds. The Machars peninsula runs south from here to Whithorn, where Christianity is said to have first arrived in Scotland.