Ellisland is the only home Robert Burns ever designed and built. He chose the site himself and arrived in 1788 with his new wife Jean Armour. The Category A-listed farmstead is considered a national treasure because it remains largely unmodified, but condition surveys have identified urgent structural deterioration, making the need for restoration pressing.

Now approved by the council, the plans will reverse historic damage to the buildings, provide secure climate-appropriate storage for the museum’s collection of manuscripts and artefacts, and restore Burns’s original cottage by removing modern additions and returning it to its 1791 condition.

Joan McAlpine, project director of the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust, said: “This is a major milestone in the race to Save the Home of Auld Lang Syne. It reflects our architect’s commitment to the sensitive development of one of the most important historic sites in Scotland. We can move now ahead with our vision to create a world leading heritage and cultural centre in the place Burns chose as ‘sweet poetic ground’.”

The project’s focus is on conserving the original A-listed 18th-century buildings. Visitors’ first glimpse of Ellisland is fundamental to their experience of the site, and the Trust’s ambition is to replicate what Burns would have seen when arriving at his home back in 1791.

The design intent is to make Ellisland feel like a place where history is lived, rather than displayed. It is not suggested as a single-attraction building, but as a sequence of experiences – arrival, orientation, courtyard heart, intimate domestic spaces, working farm structures, river and woodland edges – which are woven together through interpretation and landscape.

New visitor accommodation on the 140-acre site will generate income to sustain the heritage. Overlooking the Nith, the units will be hidden from the farm and inspired by the tiny “hermitage” bothy where Burns would retreat to write among nature. 

The interventions provide an opportunity for Ellisland to:

• secure the future of the Category A-listed farmstead through fabric repairs
• allow visitors to enjoy the historic and natural assests of the site
• tell the unique storey of Robert Burns and his life at Ellisland
• increase tourism, revenue and employment opportunities through the attraction.

Emma Fairhurst, conservation architect at Collective Architecture, said it was a privilege to lead the design team for Ellisland Farm: “Securing planning and listed building approval for the proposals at the Ellisland Farm represents a significant milestone for the project.

“We have worked closely with the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust to shape a design firmly rooted in the desire to carefully conserve this site of outstanding heritage significance, whilst also sensitively integrating contemporary additions that will create an enhanced visitor experience and lasting legacy for Ellisland.”

Collective Architecture was appointed by the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust in July 2025. The RIBA Stage 3 design work was supported by funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and South of Scotland Enterprise.

Duncan Dornan, chair of the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust, added: “Through a meticulous process of research combined with modern conservation techniques, we are working to create the most authentic experience possible of Burns’s life and creative environment at Ellisland. We are delighted that Dumfries and Galloway Council have approved the plans to restore this important site.”

The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust was established in February 2020 to succeed the former Ellisland Trust, founded in 1928. It assumed responsibility for Ellisland Farm at a critical point in its history, taking on an at-risk and under-performing heritage asset and repositioning it at the centre of a national regeneration effort.

Since then, the Trust has delivered significant organisational and operational transformation. The site achieved full Museum Accreditation in July 2023, and development funding totalling £945,000 has been secured for the current capital project from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, South of Scotland Enterprise, Museums Galleries Scotland, the Architectural Heritage Fund and the Holywood Trust, alongside substantial additional support for wider activity and programming.

The Trust has also renovated and operates on-site holiday accommodation as part of a “conservation through use” approach to long-term sustainability.