New look Burns Cottage opens after £1m refit

Dec 4 2009 Ayrshire Post (main ed)

KIDS flew the flag for a great Scottish tourist initiative.

And they joined First Minister Alex Salmond at the official re-opening of Burns Cottage.

The Alloway kids were thrilled to be there on the Sunday.

And admission was free to mark the occasion.

The £1 million cottage restoration includes transforming the old Burns Museum into an education pavilion.

And it also features landscaping the area of smallholding at the back of the cottage.

The cottage restoration is part of the National Trust for Scotland's £21m spend on the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, scheduled for completion in the autumn of 2010.

Trust chief executive Kate Mavor hailed the cottage as ‘one of Scotland’s iconic heritage sites’.

And Mr Salmond said its re-opening was an important step in a project which celebrates the life and work of Scotland’s globally recognised cultural icon.

Burns Cottage has had its roof re-thatched and has been repainted inside and out.

Core repairs have been carried out, and new audio-visuals installed to bring the Robert Burns’ story to life.