advise on visit to scotland to research family tree

[sjbrundan]

Hi All,
i would like a bit of advise please,
I'm going to Scotland in July, i will have 5 days there to do family research. all my fathers family are from the Castle Douglas, buittle, gatehouse of fleet areas,(and further back in my tree - Kilmarno, Ayrshire) . i will be staying near rhonehouse so an easy drive to all these areas, i think.
my question is how do i get started? where should i visit? churches etc, I want to have it all set out, the places i need to visit to get the different sorts of information, I'm flying in from the UAE so this trip is possibly the only family tree trip i will have for a long time. I know my fathers family grew up on KeltonHill farm, which a cousin still owns so that's on my list. i have found two churches that the livingston's and Sproats are buried.
My grandparent Margaret Smith (Wilson) and David Smith both died in 1963 at KeltonHill farm but so far i haven't found where the smiths are buried. All my research up till now has been done on the internet.

Any advise on where to go and how to get this trip organised would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Sarah
Researching Smith, Livingston, Sproat, Wilson, all from Ayrshire, and Kirkcudbright

[Muriel]

Hi Sarah

Altho' not from Galloway I do visit regularly & Rhonehouse is ideally placed for the places you want to visit. You should definitly contact the D&G FHS to see what they can offer you (they are based in Dumfries, see top of the TS homepage for contact button) & there's also a helpful-looking website http://www.buittle.org.uk which might be worth checking out. It seems to be the work of one person but they may be able to point you in the right direction. It's also worth trying the local libraries.

Hope you have a good trip

Muriel

[derekfrom france]

Hi Sarah
a must is the DGFHS their shop is in Dumfries but phone first to make sure they are open ,hope the weather is good

cheers Derek