Tradespeople in Turnberry, South Ayrshire

Turnberry is a small settlement on the Ayrshire coast, about five miles north of Girvan, known principally for its world-famous golf resort and its associations with Scottish royal history. It sits on a low headland at the southern end of Maidenhead Bay, with views across the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa Craig and the Kintyre peninsula.

Turnberry Castle, now a fragmentary ruin on the foreshore, was the seat of the Earls of Carrick and the birthplace - according to widely accepted tradition - of Robert the Bruce. The castle passed to the Bruce family when Robert de Brus married Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, in 1271 and their son, the future King of Scots, was born here. Robert the Bruce ordered the castle's destruction in 1310 to deny it to the English and it was never rebuilt. The lighthouse that stands beside the ruins was designed by David and Thomas Stevenson and completed in 1873.

Turnberry Hotel - now the Trump Turnberry resort - opened in 1906 and has hosted the Open Championship four times, most recently in 2009. The Ailsa Course is one of the most spectacular and challenging links courses in the world, with several holes played directly along the clifftop above the Firth of Clyde. The resort occupies a commanding position on the headland and is visible from miles along the coast.

Beyond the hotel and golf courses, Turnberry is a very small community with little in the way of a village centre. It is accessible by road from Girvan and Maybole and lies close to other Carrick villages including Maidens and Kirkoswald.

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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.