Southerness is a holiday village on the Scottish Solway Coast about 17 miles south west of Dumfries, catering for the entire family holiday with residential caravan and holiday chalet areas. It is completely self-contained. Although a car is most useful there is a bus service to and from Dumfries which continues on to Rockcliffe. There are three shops in the area which sell almost everything needed, three pubs and a fish and chip restaurant for eating out and live music in the pubs on most evenings in the season.
There are miles of sandy and rocky beaches where children can paddle and play in safety and on which you can walk in either direction. Supervision is essential, however, especially, when there is an incoming tide. Good fishing can be obtained in nearby rivers and lochs while sea anglers catch plaice and flounders from the beach.
The RSPB reserve at Mersehead is in the next bay and the estuary birdlife can be seen from the living room.
On the edge of the village is a championship 18 hole golf course with the usual club facilities and there is also The Links course where you can ‘pay and play’. The surrounding countryside is excellent for rambling and walking along country lanes and over moorland and through the Galloway forests. Although it is not advisable to sail or canoe from Southerness, Solway Yacht Club is just along the coast at Kipford.
The historian is well catered for in the area from Robert Burns’ house in Dumfries, through Sweetheart Abbey in New Abbey to Mary Queen of Scots’ last resting place in Scotland at Dundrennan. Many visitors from the USA want to see the birthplace of the founder of the American navy, John Paul Jones at Arbigland. The genealogist is surrounded by excellent record offices in Dumfries and Dalbeattie. The Dumfries & Galloway Family History Society has a shop in the centre of Dumfries where family research can be done with a small fee for non-members.