Carrick Bay is one of our favourite short trips from the lodges, and it is the one we take our own girls to more than anywhere else. It is about fifteen minutes by car, out through Gatehouse of Fleet and along the B727, and it gives you a proper beach, rock pools the kids can spend an hour in without asking to leave, and — if you time it with the tide — a walk out onto Ardwall Isle, which most visitors to Dumfries and Galloway never even know is there.

Starting at Carrick Bay

You park at Carrick Bay, and the walk starts the moment you get out of the car. Head down towards Carrick Beach and the water — the two sit right next to each other on this stretch of coast — and it is a proper piece of Solway shoreline, sand giving way to mudflats as the tide drops. On a clear day you can see out to Ardwall Isle and, further round to the left, Argyll Isle sitting out in the water. It is one of the quieter beaches near our luxury lodges in Dumfries and Galloway, which is exactly why we like it.

Carrick Bay beach at low tide, with livestock grazing along the shoreline

Head out across the sand and mudflats, keeping the shoreline on your right. This is where our girls, Edie and Hattie, disappear for a while. There are rock pools all along here, and they are good ones — proper fish if you are patient and quiet, plenty of crabs, and enough to keep children entertained without you having to do anything at all. If dog-friendly lodges in South West Scotland are what brought you to Gatehouse of Fleet in the first place, this is the walk that makes the most of it. Ours are always off the lead the moment we hit the flats.

Edie and Hattie in the rock pools — always the first stop

Onto Ardwall Isle

As you come round towards the island you reach the point where the mudflats meet Ardwall Isle proper, and there is a short scramble up a path from the beach onto the grass. It is not difficult, just a bit of a pull, and it is the point where you notice the change underfoot — firm sand behind you, rougher grass and uneven ground ahead.

The path up from the beach — the kids are always first up

Ardwall Isle was farmed until fairly recently. Up until about two years ago it was still being cut for silage, big bales dotted across it in summer, but it has since been left alone and is returning to something wilder.

Crossing the middle of the island, with the sea and Whithorn visible beyond

If you picture the island as a clock face with twelve at the top, head roughly towards eleven o’clock and you will come to an old stone house, sitting on its own with nothing around it.

The old house on Ardwall Isle, once home to Lady McCulloch

Making their way through the overgrown grass

The way back, and making a day of it

From the house, turn and head back down towards the beach. Rather than crossing the flats a second time, we usually pick up the road at Carrick Beach and follow it back round to Carrick Bay. About halfway along, there is a turning up to the right for Carrick Scenic Point, worth the short detour for the view alone.

Looking back across the mudflats towards Carrick Beach on the way home

Looking out towards Whithorn from the island

Where to go once you are on the road again

If you have the time, it is worth carrying on to Kirkcudbright afterwards for a coffee. It is a lovely drive along the coast, and there are a few good places worth knowing.

We go back to Carrick Bay more than almost anywhere else near the lodges, and my brother, who lives on the family farm three miles away, still spends two weeks here every summer as his own holiday, even though he could walk to it. That tells you most of what you need to know about the place.

If you are staying with us at Gatehouse Luxury Lodges and want a walk that mixes a proper beach, a bit of local history, and somewhere genuinely different, this is the one to put on the list.