Borgue is a village in south west Scotland, about 5 miles west of Kirkcudbright. The Borgue peninsula was traditionally known for its dairy farming and bee-keeping, leading to it being called ‘The Land of Milk and Honey’.
The current area covered by the Borgue Community Council is shown in the map below. In earlier times, the parish of Borgue extended about three miles further northwards and included the farms at Littleton, Greenslack, Gaitgill, Glenterry, Standingstone and Conchieton.
Place Plans do not have to conform to pre-existing geographical or political boundaries but it has been decided that initially, the Borgue Place Plan will cover the area currently defined for the Borgue Community Council, as shown above.
Borgue Statistics
(for the current Borgue Community Council area)
Area: 60 sq.km. 23 sq.miles
Population: 334
Properties: 275
Holiday Rental Properties: 26 registered but probably more in use
Farms: 14
Farming
Farming is the main business activity on the Borgue peninsula. There is a mix of farming types, including modern, large-scale dairy farming, beef and sheep farming and small-scale organic crofting. The land provides rich pastures for grazing dairy and beef cattle and sheep or for growing silage grass.
Some farms have diversified into providing facilities for visitors and tourists (see below).
Recently, some local farms have been acquired by companies that are planting trees either for commercial forestry or for carbon credits and one farm has been granted planning permission to build a large solar photovoltaic installation.
Tourism
The Borgue area has several developed tourist facilities, including the Seaward and Brighouse Bay Holiday Parks operated by Gillespie Leisure, Solway View Camp Site, Ross Bay Retreat and Holiday Property Bond at the Coo Palace, near Kirkandrews. The Borgue Hotel provides accommodation, food and drinks in the centre of Borgue village. There are 26 properties registered as short-term lets in the Borgue Community Council area.
Carrick, adjacent to Borgue, is an area with around 50 cabins and chalets. Most of these are privately owned but some are available for holiday rental. There is also a large holiday park at Sandgreen, between Carrick and Gatehouse of Fleet.
Rainton Farm, just outside the Borgue Community Council area, is home to Cream o’ Galloway ice-cream and The Ethical Dairy, traditional cheese producer.
Arts and Crafts
Borgue is home to a variety of artists and makers, including:
Other Businesses
There are several independent businesses in Borgue, including Chapelton Smithy, Senwick House care home, Salad Brew organic vegetables and a variety of tradespeople, contractors and other services.
Geology
The geology of the Borgue peninsula consists mostly of thick beds of sedimentary rocks known as ‘greywacke’ from the Silurian period, between 420 and 440 million years old. These are used extensively in local building of stone dykes and houses where they are known as ‘whinstone’.
The youngest rocks, known as the Ross formation, are in the east. Most of the peninsula is made up of the Carghidown formation, consisting of interbedded mudstones, siltstones and sandstones. The western side of the area is the Kirkmaiden formation, underlying the Carrick and Sandgreen areas. These rocks have been heavily distorted by tectonic movements and display steeply dipping surfaces. There are some small intrusions of igneous dykes, shown in purple on the map, that date from the late Silurian into the Devonian period.
The near-vertical orientation of the bedrock in a south-west to north-east alignment creates a local landscape of rocky ridges separated by shallow valleys. This is very evident along the coast with the parallel alignments of Kirkcudbright Bay, Brighouse Bay, Carrick Bay and the upper Fleet estuary.
Footpaths
There is a network of Core Footpaths defined around Borgue. A coastal path runs from Dhoon Bay all the way to Sandgreen and Gatehouse of Fleet and there are paths, tracks and minor roads that connect from the coast back to Borgue village. Unfortunately some sections of path are not well used and can be quite difficult to navigate.
Activities
National Cycle Route 7 follows the B727 and other minor roads through the Borgue peninsula, from Kirkcudbright via Dhoon Bay, through Borgue village then past Kirkandrews and Knockbrex to Lennox-Plunton before heading across to Cream o’ Galloway and onward to Gatehouse of Fleet. This route is also used by the Kirkpatrick C2C, a coast to coast cycle route from Portpatrick to Eyemouth.
Brighouse Bay and Carrick are popular areas for sailing, kayaking and paddle boarding.
The Mull of Ross has some well-established areas for rock climbing, described in John Biggar’s web site.
There are regular groups of open-water swimmers that swim throughout the year at Brighouse Bay, Carrick and other coastal locations.
The core paths from Millhall through Senwick Woods, around Brighouse Bay to Borness and from Kirkandrews to Carrick are well used by local and visiting walkers.
There is an 18-hole championship golf course at Brighouse Bay
Designated Areas
The Borgue peninsula is part of several areas which have special environmental or scenic designations.
Solway Coast Regional Scenic Area
Most of the Borgue peninsula is part of the Solway Coast Regional Scenic Area. The Borgue area is noted for its characteristic landscape of “gorsey knolls”. These are the rocky ridges which run in a south west – north east orientation across the peninsula. They often have gorse, blackthorn and hawthorn bushes that provide shelter and habitat for a variety of wildlife and farm animals. Click here for more information on Regional Scenic Areas.
Borgue Coast and Carrick Ponds SSSIs
The coastline of the Borgue peninsula is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is recognised for its geological formations and as a habitat for breeding colonies of Common Gulls and Greater Black-Backed Gulls. The designated area includes the coastline from Senwick Church to the Fleet Estuary, the Isles of Fleet and Little Ross Island.
There is a small area of wetlands at the western edge of Borgue that is designated as the Carrick Ponds SSSI. It is designated for its variety of wetland habitats and populations of insects and amphibians.
Fleet Valley National Scenic Area
The western edge of the Borgue area forms part of the Fleet Valley Regional Scenic Area.
Fleet Bay is dominated by the hill mass of Cairnharrow (456m) on its western side, of which Ben John and Mill Knock are outliers. On the east relief is not so pronounced but enclosure is given by the ridge which culminates in the well wooded Bar Hill just south of Gatehouse.
Woodland contributes significantly to the Fleet Bay landscape, with policy planting and hedgerow trees being dominant. There is a variety of woodlands from young plantations to mature broadleaved woods clothing the valley sides, while above them extends the open moorland of the hills, and below the riverside pasture. The pattern is one of rich, well-managed, mixed land use farming in which the woods are particularly striking, and where there is evidence of long established prosperity in the number of castles, churches, monuments and ancient remains.
Galloway and South Ayrshire Biosphere
Borgue is part of the Galloway and South Ayrshire Biosphere, a UNESCO designated region, whose aim is stated as: ‘The Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere promotes a balanced relationship between people and the natural environment, through establishing effective partnerships, community engagement, innovative projects, research and learning. Encouraging local communities to act collaboratively to build thriving sustainable societies in harmony with their natural surroundings.’
