For those wishing a short excursion in order to sample the area, this modest walk will not disappoint. The walk takes you along the Bennan Farm road where there are extensive views of the crags and hills.

As you cross the public road on to the old Pond Road notice the remains of the dam at the curling pond now planted with shimmering poplars.

The remainder of the walk takes you near the former timber mill (now a private house) by the old lade and the falls. Note the mix of trees: alder, hardwoods especially the beeches, conifers and a bamboo thicket on the island. You may see wagtails, dippers, herons and kingfishers.

This delightful ramble offers in miniature many of the sights to be enjoyed on a larger scale elsewhere and this rural tranquil scene will undoubtedly tempt the visitor back.

Walk via Fowler's Croft and the Dalmellington Road to the small bridge over the burn and up the track past Glenhead. As height is gained superb views open up of the surrounding hills and upper reaches of the Girvan Valley.

As you enter the wood which is now part of a vast conifer plantation, cleared areas provide many interesting views from the track.

Coming back from Altizourie you cannot fail to notice Blairquhan Castle (1820-24) across the water meadows on your right. The castle is the home of Mr James Hunter Blair. A regency mansion of Tudor design by William Burn it has a long and varied history and connections with Robert Burns and links with John Loudon Macadam the road builder. It is beautifully situated on the left bank of the river.

Follow the road back on the west side with Straiton Monument and Bennan Hill providing an impressive backdrop.

This walk requires a strenuous climb. The end reward however is well worth the effort. By the footbridge over the river look back to the village noting the crow-stepped gable of the oldest part of St Cuthbert's church (13th C) and then the Black Bull Hotel dating from the time of Burns. You will appreciate the siting of the village above the flood plain.

The river itself with its fringes of alder trees is the haunt of moorhen, dippers, mallard and mergansers. Your walk takes you through Traboyack Wood onto the bare hill slopes from which you can look down on the fine example of an 18th century gentleman minister's manse and also the Toll Cottage by the roadside at the southern end of the village.

At the summit of Craigengower (the Hill of Goats in Gaelic) is the obelisk which is a monument to Lt Col James Hunter Blair killed at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854. If you look north on a clear day you will see Ben Lomond, the Arrochar Alps and Goat Fell on Arran and westwards Ailsa Craig. Walk back down the hill south-westwards towards the Water of Girvan and follow the river back to Straiton.

An interesting relic of past farming practices may be observed as you enter the open field beyond Bennan Farm. There on the right are the stone circles of the rick bottoms which kept the corn stacks off the damp ground. They date from the time of the steam traction engines and the threshing mills which toured the farms in the autumn and winter months. On the stones were placed boughs and hedgerow cuttings, then the sheaves of corn carefully and skillfully in circular patterns.

The walk passes through Bennan Wood where you can branch off to a path which leads to Bennan Hill. The top of Bennan Hill is about 900ft and, unlike the Hill of the Goats opposite, is wooded almost to the summit. In Gaelic Bennan means small mountain. Returning to the main path travel through the woods south until just past Craigfad where you can cross the river. In the wood itself look out for primroses and violets, also long-tailed tits, red squirrels, deer and badgers.

Follow the V - shaped valley of the Water of Girvan back to Straiton. Straiton's name may mean a settlement in a deep valley (Celtic in origin). Largely its present layout derives from the ideas of Thomas Kennedy, Earl of Cassilis, in the late 18th century.

The path enters the Fowler's Croft Development which in 1984 merited an architectural design award by the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland. Outside the first cottage is a plaque to commemorate this event.

As you go past Largs Farm spare a thought for Straiton's covenanting martyr Thomas McHaffie whose home it was. He was shot, after a brief trial, by the dragoons while attempting to escape in 1686. A memorial stands a few yards from the west door of the church. "Tho' I was sick and like to die, Yet bloody Bruce did murder me, Because I adhered in my station, To our Covenanted Reformation". Bruce was the name of the officer who had him executed.

In the Lambdoughty Glen stands a marvellous variety of trees - hardwoods, conifers and recently planted oak. The largest waterfall (30ft high) is known as the Rossetti Linn because the celebrated poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 82) was once thought to be contemplating suicide there. William Bell Scott painter, academic, friend and biographer of the Pre-Raphaelites tells the frightening story of their visit to the falls.

At whatever season you may visit the glen it is never lacking in interest whether you are here for the exercise or perhaps for quiet reflection. Lady Hunter Blair's walk is a pleasure to know at any time of the year.

This track takes you on to Sclenteuch Moor and passes near to Loch Spallander.

This area was once a grouse moor before the planting of extensive conifers. The trail is part of a long distance route to and from the Barr and Straiton area and is for well-equipped and experienced hill-walkers (especially in bad weather). With extensive views across Ayrshire, it is a fine walk on the open moor and through coniferous forest following an old coal and drove road.

This is an ancient route which is shown on Armstrong's 1773 map of Ayrshire. The old stone walls can still be seen crossing the moor and closer examination offers the opportunity to study the techniques of the drystane dyke builders of the past. You cannot fail to be impressed. Ruins of the cottage at the Dhu Loch may provide a little shelter in bad weather.

Moorland birds and mammals make it attractive especially when the larks are soaring high above the heather.