Gullane

Villas Overlooking the Gullane No.1 Golf Course

Gullane is an exceptionally pretty village sitting astride the main A198 to North Berwick and about five miles west of the town. The village is well summed up in the header photo. It enters the third millennium as a golf resort in which the quality and number of golf course is surpassed only by the quality and number of large and imposing villas, many overlooking either the golf courses or the sea.

Members' Clubhouse, Gullane Golf Club Fairway, No.1 Course Gullane Bay, Looking North East Gullane Bay, Looking South West

Gullane's origins are ancient and a church was established here in the 800s. This was replaced in the 1100s by the Old Church of St Andrew, whose ruins still stand at the west end of Main Street. In 1612 the Old Church was abandoned in favour of the newly built Dirleton Kirk. In part this was because Dirleton Kirk was more convenient for more parishioners, and in part it was because of the problem of sand blowing into and over the Old Church, threatening to inundate it.

The Templar Lodge

Main Street Shops

Main Street

This highlights one of Gullane's less obvious attractions. One of the best beaches in East Lothian is at Gullane Bents, where the north west facing Gullane Bay, backed by dunes, sweeps round from Gullane Point to Black Rocks.

This is signposted from Gullane's busy Main Street and there is ample parking available. Behind the grassy links land of Gullane Bents is the wall marking the northern edge of the village, behind which sit the largest of the seaward-facing villas.

But however you look at it, Gullane is really all about golf. As you drive in from the west you drive past and through the courses of the Gullane Golf Club. Golf has been played here since 1854 and Gullane's three courses (No.1, No.2 and No.3) were established in 1884, 1898 and 1910.

There are two clubhouses, one for members and visitors to the most challenging No.1 course, the other for visitors to the No.2 and No.3 courses. Visitors are welcome.

Gullane's Main Street is an attractive mix of small shops, hotels and other accommodation providers and residential property. At its east end is a slight surprise: the Scottish Fire Service Training School was established here in the early 1950s in an attractively converted hotel.

A little beyond is a sign pointing off to the left to Greywalls. This is a house built in 1901 to a design by Sir Edwin Lutyens and accompanied by a garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll. Since 1948 Greywalls has operated as a Country House Hotel. Amongst its attractions are 10 golf courses within five miles. These include the three at Gullane. They also include one of the world's very best golf courses, at Muirfield: whose 9th and 18th greens it overlooks.

Old Church of St Andrew