Annan

Annan is a town in Dumfries and Galloway. It is a short distance inland from the Solway Firth situated between Dumfries (16-miles) and Gretna (8.5-miles).

Understand

Annan River road bridge

The Royal Burgh of Annan is the principal town of Annandale and Eskdale and the third largest in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland. Annan is on the River Annan about a mile from its mouth which is on the Solway Firth.

It does seem to be currently undergoing a bit of a revival if the high street is anything to go by; new shops, bars and restaurants are opening and the once abandoned shop fronts are taking on new life.

Annan is also the birthplace of explorer Hugh Clapperton.

Get in

By car

Annan is by-passed to the north by the A75 Carlisle to Stranraer trunk road with links into the town at either end. The A75 joins the A74(M) motorway near Gretna, the A74(M) then merges into the M6 at the Scotland/England border.

By train

Trains run from Carlisle via Gretna to Annan (22 mins) and Dumfries every hour or so M-Sat, every couple of hours Sunday. Some of them continue north via Sanquhar and Kilmarnock to Glasgow, but it's usually quicker to take the fast train between London Euston and Glasgow Central and change at Carlisle.

🌍 Annan station is 400 yards south of High Street.

By bus

Stagecoach Cumbria Bus 79 runs from Carlisle via Longtown and Gretna to Annan, taking an hour. These run every 30 mins M-Sat, with alternate (ie hourly) buses continuing west via Ruthwell to Dumfries. On Sunday the bus runs Carlisle-Annan-Dumfries every two hours.

Annan bus station is off Butts Street to the north of High Street. See Dumfries for connections towards Stranraer, and Carlisle for anywhere else, eg the X95 to Edinburgh.

By bicycle

National Cycle Route 7 on its way from Inverness to Sunderland passes through Annan; a new bridge over the river has been built to carry it to the south of the town.

Get around

The town is compact and can be explored on foot, but you could do with a bike to reach Ruthwell or the Devil's Porridge.

See

• 🌍 Annan Museum, Bank Street DG12 6AA, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Apr-Oct M-Sa 11:00-16:00. This houses a permanent exhibition on local history from the prehistoric to the first world war with interactive displays and children’s activities. Free. (updated Jan 2019)
• 🌍 The Devil's Porridge, Near Stanfield Farm, Annan Road, Eastriggs DG12 6TF (3 miles east of Annan on B721), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. M-Sa 10:00-17:00, Su 10:00-16:00. In the First World War, Britain could produce enough artillery shell cases, and the charges to fill them, but lacked cordite for propellant - this required acetone which was in very short supply. A new recipe was devised, kneading nitroglycerin and gun-cotton into a paste that could be shaped to the correct shell calibre, and when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited the factory he called it "a sort of devil's porridge". The munitions complex was named HM Factory Gretna but (just in case one part went bang) it straggled over four sites and nine miles between Longtown, Gretna and Eastriggs, the present site of this museum commemorating the factory and its mostly female workforce. Meanwhile a chemist called Chaim Weizman (yes, him) devised another process, not used at Gretna, by fermenting maize starch to make acetone. But maize was difficult to import in wartime, so in a surreally British improvisation, schoolchildren and Boy Scouts were sent out to collect acorns and conkers for fermentation. Adult £6. (updated Jan 2019)
• Ruthwell is a tiny village five miles west of Annan with a surprising collection of sights: Ruthwell Cross, a Savings Bank Museum, and Brow Well. It's on B724, the old road to Dumfries; turn off onto B725 for Caerlaverock Castle. Notable place names hereabouts include Cocklicks Farm and Twathats. (Little Cocklick, home of Jean Maxwell "the Galloway witch", is away west near Castle Douglas.)
• 🌍 Ruthwell Cross, Ruthwell Church DG1 4NP (Off B724 five miles west of Annan). 8th C Anglo-Saxon High Cross, 18 ft high, smashed in 1642 but restored in 1823, with remarkable carvings and inscriptions in Latin, Anglo-Saxon and Runic. Scholars of runes may struggle as these are not the standard futhorc script, and were probably added in the 10th C. (updated Jan 2019)
• The Savings Bank Museum commemorates the world's first savings bank, opened here in 1810 and swiftly copied. It's open Apr-Sept Tu-Sat & Oct-Mar Th-Sat 10:00-16:00, free.
• Brow is a hamlet a mile or so west of Ruthwell on B725, which in Robert Burns' time was "the poor man's spa". The Brow Well was a chalybeate (iron-rich) spring which you plunged into. In the 20th C it was prettified into a pink sandstone bath. Nearby is a beach for sea-bathing, but only around spring high tides when the sea covers the mud flats. In July 1796 Burns spent 3 weeks here, bathing in sea and spring between quaffing port and writing begging letters to all and sundry. He left, haggard, pale and tottering, in every sense the poor man, to die at home in Dumfries 3 days later. He was 37.

Do

Annan High Street

• Walk: one recommended stroll is to walk north (upstream) along the east bank of the river and back down the west bank. If you cross at the first footbridge just before the A75 viaduct it's a two mile round-trip, via the second footbridge it's four miles, and by the lane bridge at Brydekirk (Brig Inn is here) it's six miles.
• Watch football (ie soccer) at 🌍 Annan Athletic FC, Galabank, North Street (Half a mile north of centre on river bank), ☎ [phone]. They play in the 2nd Division, which is the fourth tier of Scottish football. (updated Jan 2019)
• 🌍 Farmers Den, Lady Street Annan, DG12 5DA, ☎ [phone]. A young kids soft play activity centre in Annan 
• 🌍 Powfoot Golf Course, Cummertrees, DG12 5QE, ☎ [phone]. 18-hole course half links half parkland, designed by the legendary James Braid in 1903 the course offers a superb test of golf with its many challenging holes which are set among whins and rough and has earned Powfoot the tag of 'one of golf's best kept secrets' 
• 🌍 Broom Fisheries, Broom Farm Estate, Newbie, DG12 5PF (Off B724 about a mile west of Annan), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Five waters dedicated to coarse and match fishing, together with a fully stocked tackle shop, caravan & camping site, toilets and ample parking adjacent to the waters. 
• 🌍 Annandale Distillery, Northfield DG12 5LL (Two miles north of town off B722, which bridges A75 without a junction.), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Tours daily 10:00-16:00. This whisky distillery started in 1836, became part of Johnnie Walker but closed in 1924. It re-started in 2014, with its first modern produce coming to market in 2018 after the maturation period, branded as "Man O'Words" (unpeated) and "Man O'Sword" (peated). They give guided tours and have a shop and café. Tour £12.50. (updated Jan 2019)

Events

• Riding of the Marches. The Marches or boundaries of Annan have been ridden since the town was created a Royal Burgh more than 600 years ago. Each year in early July more than one hundred horsemen and horsewomen Ride the Marches to ensure that the landmarks, cairns and other features have not been removed or tampered with. 

Buy

There's a Tesco just south of Scott's St. But the big retail park hereabouts is Gretna Gateway Outlet Village ten miles east, see Gretna page.

Eat

• Cafe Royal, 95 High St, DG12 6DJ, ☎ [phone]. Daily 07:00-20:00. Breakfast, fish & chips, filled rolls, sit in and takeaway. (updated Jan 2019)
• The Lounge, 116 High Street DG12 6DW, ☎ [phone]. M-Sa 08:30-16:00, Su 10:00-15:00. Pleasant place for a coffee break or breakfast. (updated Jan 2019)
• The Coffee Lounge Bar of The Corner House Hotel serves coffee, soup and light meals 08:00-23:00, see "Sleep" listing.
• Del Amitri Restaurant is within Powfoot Hotel, 3 miles west of Annan, see "Sleep" listing.

Drink

• The Anglers, 61 High Street DG12 6AD, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Cocktail and sports bar. Also tea room and coffee shop 
• The Blue Bell Inn, 10 High Street (adjacent to the River Annan bridge), ☎ [phone]. Traditional pub with Robert Burns' quotes on the walls; ever changing selection of real ales, including some brewed on the premesis; sports shown. Holds a popular Beer Festival on the weekend of the English August Bank Holiday 
• The Shed, 7 Lady Street DG12 5DA (Near corner with High Street). Sports bar and more including live music, disco and karaoke 
• Farmers Inn, in Clarencefield five miles west of Annan, serves real ale, and does meals daily 12:00-14:00 & 19:00-21:00 (Sa Su from 18:00). See "sleep" listing as it also has accommodation, and doubles up as the village Post Office.

Sleep

Hoddom Castle

• Corner House Hotel, 78 High Street DG12 6DL (Corner of Lady Street), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. With 18 en-suite rooms, free wifi available in the coffee & lounge bar. On-site car parking, with CCTV system. Rooms from £32. 
• Queensberry Arms Hotel, 47 High St DG12 6AD (On main street opposite war memorial), ☎ [phone]. 3-star with 21 en suite bedrooms. B&B double from £50. (updated Jan 2019)
• Firth Hotel, 41 Scotts Street DG12 6JE (on B721 east of town centre), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Family run B&B and licensed bar. 
• 🌍 Farmers Inn, Main Street, Clarencefield (on B724 five miles west of Annan), ☎ [phone]. Motel-style accommodation in lodge at rear of the Inn. 
• Comlongon Castle: 4-star splurge in a 15th C castle, often booked for weddings, generally acclaimed but hot water erratic. It's off B724 just north of Clarencefield.
• 🌍 Hoddom Castle (5 miles north on B723), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Caravanning, camping, fishing, golfing, walking, children's play area. 
• 🌍 Powfoot Hotel, Powfoot DG12 5PN (Off B724 three miles west of Annan), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. Re-opened under new management. Includes the Del Amitri Restaurant. (updated Sep 2016)

Go next

• Go west via Dumfries, where Robert Burns spent his last years, and further west to Stranraer for ferries to Northern Ireland.
• To Edinburgh most people race north up A74(M) then branch onto A702. Slower scenic routes are via Gretna and Longtown onto A7, thence via Hawick and Selkirk in the Scottish Borders; or leave A74(M) at Moffat for A708 past Grey Mare's Tail, Ettrick Forest and Innerleithen. These are glorious when it's sunny and the heather in bloom, nerve-wracking in bad weather or with a low fuel tank.
• Go south via Carlisle to reach the Lake District.