Things to do in Lockerbie
Although Lockerbie is a small town, you can always find things to do in and around it. If you want to unlock your inner Torvill or Dean, buckle yourself into a pair of ice skates and head off to Lockerbie Ice Rink. If you’re more of an Eve Muirhead type, it’s also home to a curling rink where you can try your hand at this sport that’s always a hit at the Winter Olympics.
Eskrigg is a lovely nature reserve on the outskirts of town. It’s within walking distance of the station; at just over a mile it’ll take about half an hour. You’ll leave the town and enter the countryside, and Eskrigg is one of a handful of places in Britain where you can see red squirrels, Britain’s native species that was almost wiped out by the spread of greys brought over from America in the 1800s. There’s a little loch here too, and if you’re lucky you might catch a glimpse of a kingfisher.
Tours of whisky distilleries are not exactly rare in Scotland, and it’s possible to spend weeks touring them and still not visit them all. Rum, however, is a little different, and is relatively niche around these parts. That’s why the Ninefold Distillery is an unusual but very rewarding place to visit. You can see how rum is made and, of course, sample the products and buy some to take away. You might want to make the visit the end-point of a 2-hour walk from Lockerbie; otherwise, it’s about 10 minutes away by taxi.