Nearby residents are hoping to own the most southerly part of Scotland if their community buyout plans are successful. The Northern Lighthouse Board is seeking to sell 30 acres at the tip of the Mull of Galloway and a local community company wants to try and buy it.
The Mull of Galloway is home to an internationally important seabird colony as well as dramatic cliffs and the lighthouse and associated buildings.
The Mull of Galloway Trust wants to buy the land in order to preserve it and avoid any commercial exploitation as experienced at Lands End in Cornwall. A Trust spokesman told the BBC, “We want to ensure we don’t get some outside body in who decide to make it into a fun park. There are going to be no fantastic changes – we are not going to build a Ferris wheel or a helter-skelter. It will remain as it is.”
The Lighthouse Museum is already run by volunteers and there is also an RSPB centre at the site. The RSPB have said they would be keen to see the local trust take over the site.
Details of a coastal walk at the Mull of Galloway that takes in the RSPB visitor centre and lighthouse can be found on Walkhighlands.