Twynholm lies two miles north-west of Kirkcudbright. After centuries lying on the main road from Dumfries to Stranraer, it became a more peaceful village in 1973, when the line of the main A75 was changed to pass just north of Twynholm rather than through its centre.
The village started life as home in the 1500s to two mills on the burn that passes through its centre. In more recent times Twynholm's focus has moved up the hillside to the north, away from the burn and towards the route of Main Street, once the A75.
This is flanked by lines of white painted or stone cottages, and here, too, you find the Star Hotel.
Up the hill to the south of the burn is the Burnbank Hotel on Kirk Brae with, beyond it, the parish church. The church dates back to 1818. It was renovated and reroofed in 1914, though some of the earlier box pews were retained. The porch was added in 1963. Beyond the church is the primary school, built in 1911 to replace an earlier school, parts of which dated back to the 1700s.