Activities
The beach is located next to a caravan park which has leisure facilities including a swimming pool and arcade. There is a deactivated lighthouse (the second oldest in Scotland) which is open to view during the summer. The 18 hole Southerness Golf Course welcomes visitors. The beach is connected to 2 footpaths:
• Southerness Point to Palnackie (22 miles, 35km) Starting at the Nineteenth Hole pub in Southerness and walking westwards along the beach before following a marked pathway across marshland to Mersehead, this challenging walk takes in beach, cliffs and some main roads. See www.britishwalks.org (walk number 445) for details of route.
• Powillimount to Carsethorne (5.5miles, 8.8km) Turning eastwards from Southerness along the beach to Powillimount to join up with the leisurely walk to the harbour village of Carsethorne, taking in seashore, woodland and pasture along the way. See www.britishwalks.org (part of walk number 444) for details of route.
Local Attractions
The John Paul Jones Cottage Museum and Visitor Centre is nearby – Discover the life and times of the ‘Father of the American Navy’. The RSPB nature reserve at Mersehead is a short drive away, or accessible via the footpath mentioned above.
Description
Southerness has a large, shallow, sandy beaches on both sides of the rocky next to the village and to the west extend out to the vast Mersehead Sands exposed at low tide. The beaches are located next to a holiday park but their size allows visitors enough space even on the busiest days. There are water quality advice signs next to the car park.
Southerness is a small village constructed in the 1760s adjacent to a lighthouse erected to warn sailing ships of the dangerous rocky outcrops on the approach to Dumfries. The promontory was once called Saulterness, meaning salt makers point, after the saltpans which producd the salt which was used fro preserving food.
The village has a long history as a sea bathing resort and now has a large holiday park with associated facilities.
