EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

On the journey upstream from Lanark, you leave industrial Lanarkshire behind and come instead into the gentle undualtions of the Border hills. BIGGAR , twelve miles from Lanark, has the sense of being slightly adrift, formally in Lanarkshire but more a Border town, as close to Edinburgh as it is to Glasgow but with no strong connection to either. For a town of its size, Biggar has an inordinate number of museums; none could be described as essential, though each has its own quirky appeal. The most general is the Moat Park Heritage Centre (Easter to mid-Oct Mon-Sat 10.30am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; £2), which occupies a grand neo-Romanesque church near the foot of Kirkstyle (off High Street). Inside, the geological and archeological history of Upper Clydesdale is traced. Tucked in behind the High Street, the Gladstone Court Museum (Easter-Oct Mon-Sat 10.30am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; £2) has a recreated street of Victorian shops, including a telephone exchange, bank and cobbler. Beside Biggar burn lies Biggar Gasworks Museum (June-Sept daily 2-5pm; £1), which has the appearance of a Lilliputian power station. Built in 1839, it is the only coal-based gasworks still standing; most were demolished in the 1970s when the North Sea gas grid was developed.

Regular bus services to Biggar arrive from a wide range of towns; from Lanark, take bus #191, but there are also services from Edinburgh, Peebles, Moffat, Dumfries and more. They stop on High Street, near the tourist office (Easter-Oct daily 10am-5pm; tel 01899/221066). There's a B&B , Daleside , a few doors down at 165 High St (tel 01899/220097; under £40), and camping at Biggar Caravan Park on Broughton Road (tel 01899/220319). For food , both the Elphinstone Hotel and the Crown , on High Street, serve up hearty pub grub.