Waterfalls, stargazing and buzzards: the Moffat walking festival in Scotland’s southern uplands

The elegant town of Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway proves a great base for exploring nearby rewilded landscapes, beautiful gardens and wildlife – with astronomy a bonus

At the top of the gorge, strings of Tibetan prayer flags flutter between trees, a waterfall cascades over rock, the white dome of a stupa peeps through the foliage. I watch the water-driven prayer wheel, mesmerised, and nod hello to Dawa Sherpa. I may be in Scotland but it feels as if I’ve been transported to deepest Nepal.

Craigieburn Gardens & Nursery, two miles outside the pretty town of Moffat, is just one of the surprises on a trip to this corner of Dumfries and Galloway. While part of the garden is formal, some of the woodlands have been transformed into a Himalayan scene by green-fingered Dawa, who moved here with his family having met Craigieburn’s owner Janet Wheatcroft back in 1995 (he saved her from drowning – but that’s another story).