2 Best Sights in The Borders and the Southwest, Scotland

The extraordinary 2015 land artwork by Charles Jencks, 45 minutes north of Dumfries near the village of Sanquhar, must surely become a focus for visitors to the region for years to come. Jencks has transformed a 55-acre site, once an open-pit mine, into a beautiful and inspiring created landscape, at the heart of which are two grass spiral mounds that represent the Milky Way and the Andromeda Constellation. But they are simply the heart of a site where woodland, moor, mountain, and desert meet. Local rocks have been lifted to form avenues and labyrinths across the site. As you look across from its highest point, it is as if you were looking in a mirror in which the skies were reflected on the earth. Set aside two or three hours at least for the experience.

British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy's extraordinary piece of public landscape art enriches the great natural amphitheater at Cairnhead in the southern uplands of Dumfries and Galloway. His three red-sandstone arches stand 13 feet high and mark out the area, "striding" across the landscape and symbolizing all those who have left the area and migrated in search of work or better lives.