Paisley

The Bull Inn and the Thread Town

The Bull Inn on New Street has the only original set of spirit cocks left in Scotland, along with three small snugs, a spirit cask gantry and stained-glass windows that have been in place since it opened in 1901. It is reckoned the oldest pub in Paisley, and CAMRA counts its interior among the nationally important ones. Four changing guest ales come through, usually from Broughton, Loch Lomond, Orkney and Spey Valley, and the four snugs at the back can be booked free for a lunch or a party. On a St Mirren matchday it fills with supporters watching the football. One TripAdvisor visitor summed it up as "Great pub & great atmosphere!"

Paisley is Renfrewshire's largest town, sitting just west of Glasgow on the White Cart Water, with the Gleniffer Braes rising to the south. For about 150 years it was the thread capital of the world. Thread-making began here in 1722 and the last mill closed in 1993, and in between the town gave the world the Paisley Pattern and the Paisley Shawl. Thomas Coats built J & P Coats into what became, at its height, the third largest listed company in the world.

Stars, Stewards and Stone

You can see where the money went at Coats Observatory, Scotland's oldest public observatory and still working. Coats paid £3,097 17s 6d for it and died two weeks after it opened in 1883. The five-inch Thomas Cooke refractor from that year still turns; a ten-inch Grubb telescope was added in 1898, and the instruments here recorded the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. There is a planetarium now too.

Paisley Abbey is the older story. Founded around 1163 by Walter FitzAlan, the first High Steward of Scotland, it holds the graves of six High Stewards and a tomb whose female effigy is widely taken to be Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce and mother of the first Stewart king. Queen Victoria gave the marble tomb of Robert III when she visited in 1888. Look up at the gargoyles and you will find one that appears, unmistakably, to be an alien.

Inside the Weavers' Homes

For the human side of the town, the Sma' Shot Cottages are a row of restored weavers' homes furnished as they were, with looms still in place and volunteers to show you round. Entry is free. On the first Saturday in July they host Sma' Shot Day, which ends with the burning of the cork.

Walking the Gleniffer Braes

Walking means the Gleniffer Braes. The Tannahill Walkway runs six miles from Robertson Park past the fifty-foot Gleniffer Gorge and Craigielinn waterfall, which grows icicles in winter. From the viewpoint in the 480-acre country park you can see the town, the Lower Clyde Valley and, on a clear day, as far as Ben Lomond. These braes were the favourite ground of the weaver-poet Robert Tannahill, who put them into his songs.

Rails, Airport and the Buddies

Getting here is easy. Paisley Gilmour Street is the fourth-busiest station in Scotland, with trains to Glasgow Central every ten minutes or so, and Glasgow Airport is close enough to walk. Gerard Butler, Paolo Nutini, Gerry Rafferty and David Tennant all came from here; the town calls them Buddies, and there is a walk of fame with their names on it.