Originally a fishing village, quaint Ballantrae is located south of Girvan on the coastal trail. With beautiful views towards Ailsa Craig, Arran and Kintyre, its beaches are a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and home to a range of coastal plant life and a colony of breeding birds. 

It’s a place for stories, with tales of daring Covenanters, a tragic heiress who died in her attempt to be the first woman aviator to cross the Atlantic, and it was the romantic and evocative location for Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel, ‘The Master of Ballantrae’.  

Then, of course, there’s the gruesome legend of the notorious cannibal, Alexander ‘Sawney’ Bean, who along with his tribe murdered and ate many an unsuspecting traveller. Are you brave enough to explore his secluded caves at Bennane Head and Balcreuchan Port?