Robert Burns Birthplace Museum

Robert Burns (1759 to 1796) is Scotland's national poet and one of the most influential writers in the English language. Born in Alloway in Ayrshire, he wrote in both Scots and English, producing 'Tam o' Shanter', 'To a Mouse', 'Address to a Haggis' and the words to 'Auld Lang Syne', now sung worldwide at New Year. He died at just 37, but his work has shaped Scottish identity and inspired writers, musicians and radicals ever since.

The museum holds the world's most important Burns collection: manuscripts in his own hand, personal letters, the pistols he carried as an exciseman, his writing desk and other belongings. Next door, the cottage where he was born and spent his first seven years is furnished as it would have looked in his childhood. The Alloway heritage trail nearby takes in the ruined Alloway Kirk, the Brig o' Doon and the Burns Monument.

The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is in Alloway, around 2 miles south of Ayr and roughly 45 miles south-west of Glasgow, just over an hour by car on the A77. Frequent trains run from Glasgow Central to Ayr, with Alloway a short taxi or bus ride from the station. It pairs naturally with Culzean Castle on an Ayrshire day tour.

Burns Night falls on 25 January, the anniversary of the poet's birth. The evening runs to a supper of haggis, neeps and tatties with whisky, recitations of his poems and singing of his songs. It's one of Scotland's best-loved traditions, marked by Scots and Burns enthusiasts worldwide, and the Alloway museum holds special events on the night and through January.