I'm a bookworm and I turned over an old leaf on a bookish trip to Scotland
Where:
Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
When:
April and May 2024
Trip rating:
4/5
What inspired you to take this trip?
I fell in love with all things Wigtown after reading 'The Diary of a Bookseller' (2017), the first in a collection of memoirs by Shaun Bythell, the curmudgeonly owner of The Bookshop, Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. His wry sense of humour has garnered him over 50,000 online fans worldwide. A lifelong bookworm, I have worked in publishing, and in bookstores in Toronto, England and Scotland. This was a bucket-list trip, and my first one overseas since COVID. I lived in Edinburgh in 1988 and worked at Waterstones Booksellers, and my family has strong Scottish roots.
What was the best sight?
The most beautiful was finally seeing The Bookshop itself, and meeting Shaun Bythell, along with some of the other local people I had met through the pages of his books. I timed my visit for Wigtown Spring Weekend, which is full of talks, tours and music. Wigtown's largest annual event is the Wigtown Book Festival, when thousands of book lovers descend upon the tiny town over a 10-day period in the fall.
What was your favourite activity?
Shaun allowed me to price books for a few hours as a volunteer, and I felt like a bookshop employee once again. I would almost have paid him to let me do it. I was also given a partial tour of his grand old house on the main street. The Bookshop's many warren-like rooms are located on the ground floor of Shaun's house. The whole place is full of antiques and oddities, including a smashed Kindle hanging on a wall.
What was the most delicious thing you ate?
This is a tough question, because as a nervous and jet-lagged traveller, I unfortunately had a queasy stomach the whole week I was in Scotland. I did relish a slice of carrot and pistachio cake, just one of the varied cakes and baked goods at the bookshop/café ReadingLasses, which stocks books by and about women, and has a charming patio area covered in wisteria when in season.
What was the most memorable thing you learned?
Wigtown was designated 'Scotland's National Book Town' in 1998. Even with a population of about 1,000, it has about 15 bookshops. Fancy running your own bookshop? Check out The Open Book, a charity-run Airbnb. People from all over the world reserve years in advance to do so. Another Wigtown memoir is Jessica A. Fox's 'Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets: A Real-Life Scottish Fairy Tale' (2012). Jessica travels from her native U.S. to do a stint as a volunteer at The Bookshop — and stays. Kathleen Hart's 'Devorgilla Days: Finding hope and healing in Scotland's book town' (2021) is inspiring and redolent of the town's warm and quirky inhabitants.
What is one piece of advice you
'd give?
Wigtown is only two hours or so by car from Glasgow and three hours from Edinburgh, and it would take trains and buses to get to without one. Restaurants are limited in Wigtown, but cafés are quite plentiful — and delicious. A car would also be helpful to visit local sights and nearby towns with additional restaurants. Being such a small town, there is not a lot of accommodation available. I recommend the gorgeous Craigmount B&B, conveniently located on the edge of town.
Susan Paterson, Toronto
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We've launched a series that invites Star readers to share places they've visited recently and would recommend, whether it's a weekend getaway in Elora, a Banff canoe trip, or a jaunt to Quebec City. If you've been, loved it and want to tell us about it, we'd like to hear from you.
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14 minutes ago
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