An abundance of free Easter events are being held across Dumfriesshire.
Offering family fun during the Easter weekend and school break, they will keep all ages busy and help with the cost of living crisis.
Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries is having its annual Easter Hunt today and tomorrow from 11am to 3pm in the Edinburgh Road gardens.
Indoors there will be the opportunity to try crafts with drop-in tables featuring everything from air-dry clay Easter decorations to cut out bunny masks and card-making.
The organisers are asking people to pre-book a one hour time slot in advance where possible on both days, but if there is room at a table people can just join in.
Gracefield also has Kids Clubs running during the holidays which includes: Wednesday, April 12: lava lamps; and Saturday, April 15: printmaking skills and, for teens, printmaking. Visit the website www.dgculture.co.uk for details or call 01387 262084.
Annan Museum is open – except Sunday – and then Monday, from 11am to 4pm. Its first special exhibition for 2023 will be Going for the Messages which explores the old shops of Annan’s High Street.
Dumfries has a number of museums and buildings which are also free entry including The Old Bridge House Museum – on Devorgilla Bridge above the River Nith – with the chance to explore the amazing history of the bridge, the house and the people connected with it.
Its unusual displays include an old dentist’s surgery, a toy room and period rooms set out as a bedroom, a kitchen and a parlour.
Robert Burns house on Burns Street in the town is where Scotland’s national poet spent the last years of his life. He died there in 1796 at the age of just 37 and it is now a place of pilgrimage for Burns enthusiasts from around the world.
Dumfries Museum has many items on display from its collections as well as a new exhibition, The Women of Dumfries: Art, Suffrage, Temperance and War to view. There is also the world’s oldest working camera obscura on the top floor of the windmill tower.
Sanquhar Tollbooth Museum is packed with Upper Nithsdale’s history from the world famous knitting tradition and the story of the mines and miners of Sanquhar and Kirkconnel, to what it like to be a prisoner in Sanquhar jail.
It has a new exhibition on prisoners of war, telling the story of those captured during the Napoleonic Wars and brought to the town .
Moffat Museum in Harthope House, Churchgate, has a new exhibition on The Moffat Ravine Murders – the Birth of Modern Forensics, which tells the story of two gruesome murders in 1935 and the hugely significant forensic investigations that led to the conviction of Dr. Buck Ruxton.
Maggots used in the court case have been couriered up to Moffat Museum, from the Natural History Museum in London, to feature in the exhibition which is open Thursday to Monday 10.30am to 4.30pm, and Sunday 1.30pm to 4.30pm until October. Last entry 4pm.
Up until Sunday, April 16, youth workers are offering a wide range of free activities for young people aged 12 to 25 years across Annandale and Eskdale. Check out the website: https://youthwork.dumgal.gov.uk/for the full programme
Sustrans is holding a family cycling fun day on Wednesday from 11am to 3pm on the Crichton Church lawns. There will be an obstacle course and skills ramp, cycling games, an Active Travel Easter egg hunt, smoothie bike, as well as group rides around the Crichton grounds, advice and information about a variety of cycling opportunities, Learn to Ride sessions for absolute beginners, and upcycled bikes on sale from the Dumfries Bike Shed.
Annick Laroque, senior development officer, said there will be some bikes to borrow to take part in activities but let her know beforehand by booking a spot by phone at 07824863032 or email: @IBikeCommunities. Otherwise, take along your own bikes and a picnic.
The boating pond and putting green in Moffat’s Station Park will be open from today and all weekend from 11am until 5pm. After that, they will be open at weekends only until the start of the school summer holidays at the beginning of July – when they be open every day, weather dependent.
The water play feature will be turned on for the Easter holidays. There may be a small charge for some activities but access to the park and play area is free.
An Easter fayre is being held on Sunday from 10.30am to 2pm, in Annan’s Market Hall.
At the Tesco Extra supermarket at Cuckoo Bridge, Dumfries, tomorrow youngsters can search for hidden bunnies around the store with three prizes to be won and the Easter bunny will be giving away chocolate treats between 2pm and 4pm.
