Dalmellington sits at the head of the Doon Valley on the banks of the River Doon. Immortalised by the poet "Robert Burns" in his song "Ye banks and braes O' bonnie doon".

To the south is Loch Doon (with its ruined castle), a seven mile long stretch of water situated against the backdrop of the beautiful Galloway hills. Within this area you can find relaxing spots such as Dalcairney Linn Glen with its waterfall. This area is an unspoilt area of superb scenic beauty and is ideal for hill walking or climbing.

To the north is the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group (A.R.P.G.) with it's steam museum and working steam locomotives. The track used by the group at present will be connected to Dunaskin museum of Social and Industrial history at Waterside in the near future enabling visitors to either centre to travel from one to the other on a steam train.

Immediately to the west lies Craigengillan house in Ness Glen surrounded by fishing lochs, shooting moorland and working farms.

Within close proximity to the town are pictish and medieval remains mostly undeveloped. There are derelict tin mines with organised visits throughout the summer.

Close by is Sillyhole Moss, an area of special scientific interest and a wild bird sanctuary. Regulars in the area are quite often "buzzed" by the odd heron or owl while driving across the moss road.

Loch Doon and its ruined castle have played host to Robert the Bruce on his many excursions though-out Ayrshire and Galloway. The Doon Valley and it's surrounding hills were places of safety to many a covananter during their times of trouble.

Dalmellington has a population of approximately 2000 and is surrounded by the Galloway Hills. It is reputed to have been founded in the 12th century by the Norman barons (the motte still stands just off centre to the town centre, but the wooden fort which stood upon it has unfortunately long gone).

The Dalmellington Mote can be found in the centre of this historic town. Motes (mottes) were originally fortified sites on which timber castles would sit. Wooden castles preceded stone-built castles such as Loch Doon Castle and date back to the Anglo-Norman period around the late 11th and early 12th century.

The Mote at Dalmellington is in a very good state of preservation. It consists of a flat-topped mound surrounded by a circular ditch. The ditch has suffered slightly from the effects of erosion from the Much Water and the base has been altered to form a footpath. Dalmellington Mote has now been officially classed as an Ancient Monument which will aid its preservation.

The town later developed into a stop over for the cattle drovers from Galloway heading for Irvine and Edinburgh. Last century weaving was the main source of employment followed by coal mining which lasted well into this century. At present employment forestry is the main employer with a small amount of tourism.

Dalmellington is an architecturally rich area, but the loss of the main industry in the 1960's and 70's caused the area to fall into decline. A co-ordinated programme of recent investment has halted, and now reversing this decline.

The town has a well structured community spirit including a very successful silver (but now a brass) band, bowling green, several fishing clubs, a conservation group, scout group and various church groups.

Situated in the heart of the town is the Cathcartston Visitor Centre and Museum with examples of past ways of life in the area.

Three miles away and well worth a visit is the Dunaskin Open Air Museum, which has over half its area listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The valley has spawned many great people, amongst them are former prime minister Kirk of New Zealand, Robert Hetrick the blacksmith poet, Buddy and Billy Wightman, the only two brothers to work on the American space programme. Billy, the elder of the two was involved in the design of the spacecraft which took John Glenn to the moon. Buddy helped design the cameras on the Viking spacecraft enabling it to send pictures of Mars over 220 million miles back to Earth.

John McAdam, the inventor of tarmacadam lived in the area and is reputed to have experimented in the hills above Waterside. He was also related to the McAdams of Craigengillan.

A quote from the statistical account of 1837 - "There are only two persons within the parish above the age of fifteen unable to read".