The best road cycling routes around Darvel And District

Take your time to best view the road sceneries as you cycle through this nice lane.

Brilliant rolling farm lanes with smooth tarmac away from cars - brilliant for leisure riding solo or grouped.

It's good to escape here from a too busy world.

One of several Burns hot spots in Kilmarnock.

New Laigh Kirk, situated in the centre of Kilmarnock is a vibrant and large congregation of the Church of Scotland. It was the first Church in Kilmarnock following the reformation in 1560 although the present building dates from 1802 following the tragic events which took place on the afternoon of Sunday 18 October 1801. The Church was packed for worship when some plaster fell from the ceiling and panic ensued. Thirty people died in the rush to get out. The Church was demolished and rebuilt in 1802 with wide staircases to the gallery and many exits. Laigh Kirk is mentioned by Robert Burns in his poems and he is believed to have visited the Church. Covenanters gravestones are in the Churchyard. For many visitors the highlight is the magnificent stained glass windows which have recently been cleaned and restored.

Tucked away off King Street in Sandbed Street.

Demure and forlorn, the lady in red clutching a black parasol painted by local artist Tom Lightbody has intrigued and delighted many since it was put in place. But not many people know the truly tragic tale behind the new larger than life installation. Celebrate Kilmarnock, who commissioned Tom to carry out the work, say the woman is an interpretation of the Countess of Kilmarnock — Lady Anne Livingston Boyd. Lady Boyd was married to William Boyd, the 4th Earl of Kilmarnock. The couple lived in Kilmarnock House, now St Marnock Street car park, a stone's throw away from the mural site. In 1746, the Earl and Countess had extensive gardens — now the Howard Park — to the south of Kilmarnock House. St. Marnock Street did not exist then. The Earl of Kilmarnock sided with Bonnie Prince Charlie during the Jacobite Rebellion, and as colonel in the Horse Grenadiers, he was indebted to his wife during the battle of Falkirk Muir (17/1/1746) for deliberately delaying the opposition general at a lunch, therefore ensuring he was late for the conflict and unable to gain victory for the government. Three months later the battle at Culloden took place with disastrous consequences for the Jacobite cause. The earl of Kilmarnock was captured and taken to the Tower of London and beheaded. During the Earl’s imprisonment, execution and thereafter, the Countess would take long grief-stricken walks in her garden — now the Howard Park. Sadly, Lady Boyd died broken-hearted less than a year later. This is the origin of 'The Lady’s Walk' in The Howard Park, and many claim to have witnessed her sorrowful, ghostly traipses through the centuries. The painting also pays homage to the lace-making industry, which was flourishing in East Ayrshire in the 19th century.

John Walker (1805–1857) was a grocer in Kilmarnock who originated what would become one of the world's most famous whisky brands in the world. When his father Alexander died in 1820, John was left £417 in trust. In 1820 the trustees invested in an Italian warehouse, grocery, and wine and spirits shop on King Street in Kilmarnock. An 1852 flood destroyed virtually all of the stock Walker held, but the business recovered within a couple of years. His own whisky brand, then known as "Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky" was popular locally. In 1833 John married Elizabeth Purves. Their son Alexander had apprenticed with a tea merchant in Glasgow, and there learned the art of blending tea. When he returned to take over the business from his ailing father, he used those skills to create Old Highland Whisky, (eventually renamed Johnnie Walker Black Label) the first of Walker's blends which became popular far beyond Ayrshire. Although he gave his name to the whisky, John Walker was a far less important figure to the brand than his son, Alexander, as it was he who persuaded his father to abandon the narrow realm of the grocery trade and to go into wholesale trading. At the beginning, the firm offered a range of spirits: Campbeltown whisky from the Kintyre Peninsula; whisky from the Inner Hebridean Island of Islay, with its pungent smokey flavour; patent still, or grain, whisky; and "Glenlivet", Speyside whisky. Even so, whisky sales under John Walker represented just 8 percent of the firm's income; by the time Alexander was ready to pass on the company to his own sons, that figure had increased to between 90 and 95 percent. The magnificent Johnnie Walker Bond building still stands in the town centre and has a statue of John which does not take the form of the famous 'Striding Man' image created in the first half on the 20th Century and which is recognised the world over - along with the 'Born 1820 Still Going Strong' motto. Sadly, the closure of the huge Johnnie Walker bottling plant in 2012, (once the world's largest) and the associate blending and bond operations in and around the town severed all links with Kilmarnock.