Tradespeople in Coylton, South Ayrshire

Coylton is a village and civil parish in South Ayrshire, situated five miles east of Ayr on the A70 road towards Cumnock. The village sits in gently rolling farmland and has a quiet, settled character shaped by its agricultural surroundings and the coal-mining activity that once gave the area a much larger population.

The name is said to derive from Coel Hen, a legendary sub-Roman king of the Britons believed to be buried under a mound at the village. The region of Kyle - the historic district of northern Ayrshire - is also held by Welsh tradition to take its name from the same figure, giving Coylton a place in one of the most ancient layers of Scottish and Brittonic history.

The parish was home to significant coal workings in the 19th and early 20th centuries and at its peak supported a considerably larger community than today. The mines are long gone and Coylton has settled into life as a small residential village with a church, a community hall and local amenities. Many residents commute to Ayr or further afield.

The surrounding countryside is good walking and cycling territory and the village is within easy reach of the Ayrshire coast to the west and the more upland landscape of East Ayrshire to the east.

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South Ayrshire is a council area in south-west Scotland, stretching from the coast at Troon south along the Firth of Clyde to Girvan and Ballantrae and inland across the hills of Carrick to the fringes of Galloway.

Ayr is the administrative centre and largest town, a traditional county town on the River Ayr with a long sandy beach, a racecourse and a busy high street. Prestwick, immediately to the north, is home to Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon is known for its championship golf links and harbour, while Girvan and Maybole serve the quieter southern half of the area.

The area is closely associated with Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, who was born at Alloway on the outskirts of Ayr in 1759. Burns Cottage, the Burns Monument and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum make Alloway one of Scotland's most visited literary landmarks. The Burns connection extends across the wider area through the villages and farms he knew and wrote about.

South Ayrshire's coastline is one of its greatest assets. Long sandy beaches stretch from Troon to Ayr, the views across the Firth of Clyde take in Arran, Ailsa Craig and the Kintyre peninsula and the Carrick coast south of Girvan is rugged and dramatic. Inland, the landscape rises to rolling farmland and the moorland hills that border Dumfries and Galloway.

Transport links are strong along the coast. The A77 connects Ayr and Prestwick to Glasgow, the Ayrshire Coast railway line runs regular services to Glasgow Central and Glasgow Prestwick Airport provides flights to European destinations. The A77 continues south through Girvan toward Stranraer and the ferry port for Northern Ireland.