Savills Portugal

Annually celebrated in Scotland and much further afield with winter evenings in late January full of whisky, song, poetry and haggis, Burns Night commemorates the birthday of Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns.

Burns’ legacy lives on in his wonderful contribution to Scottish culture, and perhaps nowhere more so than in the south-west of Scotland where ‘The Bard’ was born (25 January 1759) and died (21 July 1796).

His first home was built in Alloway in South Ayrshire by his father William, a tenant farmer, in 1757. The family’s whitewashed single-storey thatched cottage still stands strong, having been restored to its former glory by the Alloway Burns Monument Trust in 1881, before being acquired by the National Trust for Scotland. Today, visitors can see where the Burns family lived, side by side with their farm animals; and where young Robert read by the fireside and slept in the tiny box-bed he shared with his three siblings.

Burns’ first collection of poetry was published in the summer of 1786 and his work, and lifestyle – characterised by wine, women, and song – made him the darling of Edinburgh society, and ultimately famous the world over.

However, Burns moved back to the south-west of Scotland in 1788 where he settled with his family in Ellisland Farm (now a museum) in Dumfries and Galloway, moving to a simple dwelling in Dumfries town at 1 Bank Street (dubbed by Burns the 'Sanghoose O'Scotland'), where he remained until his death.

The beautiful landscapes of Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire, with its fabulous coastline, hills, mountains, and acres of forest, inspired much of Robert Burns’ poetry. Indeed the region is still benefitting from the resurgence in demand for homes in beautiful rural locations, with an uptick of Glasgow buyers moving out and achieving good value for money. And it has caught the attention of buyers from further afield too: since 2020 over a third of our buyers across the West Coast have come from outside Scotland.

As preparations for a host of Burns suppers across the coming weekend get underway, take a look at our gallery of properties set in the region that inspired the Scottish bard.