Robert Burns spent much of his life in Ayr, a bustling and thriving sociable market town. He was baptised and went to church in Ayr's Auld Kirk where his father's seat remains. Follow the cobbled alley there.

​

He was educated by John Murdoch, a master of Ayr Academy, who gave up his spare time to do so. In Ayr, Burns mingled with 'superior people' such as doctor's sons and was encouraged by a book society his father joined for him.

​

Here, Burns also developed a social life with some of the town's oldest pubs being crucial to him gathering his thoughts. Simpsons (built 1754 now Black Bull) was where he imagined a dialogue between the auld and new Brigs.

The Tam o'Shanter Inn (1749) named after one of Burns most famous poems still serves today with a thatched roof and drouthy neibors inside and many other Ayr hostelries, inns, breweries and off licences also pay tribute to Burns.

​

Burns Statue Square presents Burns facing proudly towards Alloway. Built by local sculptor George Anderson Lawson it boasts worldwide replicas and reductions. A statue of his muse Coila is located in UWS University grounds.

Ayr forms part of The Burns National Collection and will forever be celebrated as Robert Burns hame toun ...