‘Ayrshire – comprising Carrick, Coyle and Cunninghame – was, and still is, a peatbog of a countryside, unsuited to farming. This figure represents the hardest times of Burns’ life and that of his father before him.

The Burns (or Burness) family had desperate luck with their farming ventures and the many, many hours Robert spent in the fields taught him that wherever he would find happiness and wealth, it would not be behind horse and plough. None of the Burns’ ventures, at Mount Oliphant, Lochlea or Mossgiel, achieved any success.

Despite his and his family’s misfortunes, Robert was sufficiently magnanimous to recognise that, in different circumstances, a life behind the plough had its merits.