THE comedian John Tothill has been appeared in pubs and gig venues up and down the country, performing his stand-up routine to thousands of strangers.
So he’s better qualified than most to judge where is the the most welcoming spot in Blighty.
It turns out, it’s a little seaside town called Wigtown in Ayrshire, Scotland
Fresh from his nomination for ‘Best Show’ at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards last year, John was back in Scotland to discover the country’s best hidden gems for a Channel 4 show called ‘Where To Next‘, with fellow comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri.
They quizzed plenty of Scots on the best lesser-known places to visit and ended up in Wigtown, after it was recommended by several people.
John told us: “Wigtown is probably the friendliest place I’ve ever been to in my life.
“I didn’t meet a single person that wasn’t nice. It was full of enthusiastic people that loved living there.
“It’s a historic place, but of course it’s still modern because people live there. That’s why I think it’s a particularly lovely place to visit, it’s full of tourist attractions, but it’s not a museum.”
The town sits on the southwest coast of Scotland overlooking Wigtown Bay – Britain’s largest local nature reserve.
Wigtown’s claim to fame is that it’s Scotland’s National Book Town and has around 17 independently run second-hand bookshops.
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This includes Reading Lasses which is not only a bookshop, but also a café with a selection of cakes which you can enjoy in front of a log-burning fire in winter, or in the garden area during summer.
There’s also The Book Shop which is the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland, with over a mile of shelving that holds 100,000 books.
The town holds a yearly book festival, which will be between September 25 and October 4 this year.
For a quirky way to spend a long-weekend, you can check into the flat above The Open Book and ‘play-bookshop’.
Holidaymakers can essentially manage their own bookshop during their stay, volunteer behind the till, make their own displays, and of course, read.
The experience is so in demand it has a two-year waiting list on Airbnb with the next available dates in January 2028.
It doesn’t come cheap either, four-nights at The Open Book for one person is £878.
If you’re happy to stay somewhere without the bookshop experience then head to Booktown Bunkhouse where rooms start from £59 per night.
While Wigtown sits along the coast, it’s actually surrounded by marshes, and the bay is a nature reserve for birds like osprey and waders.
But you can still get beautiful sea views from the town, or if you want to head to the beach some of the nearest are Rigg Bay at Garlieston and pretty Monreith Bay.
40-minutes away from Wigtown is what John calls a ‘must-do experience’ while in Scotland.
Kitchen Coos & Ewes in Dumfries & Galloway offers a ‘hands-on highland cow experience’ visitors are given tours around the farm, and you can even give the younger calves a groom in the play-pen.
John said: “There were so many cows, and they were beautiful, really gorgeous.
“What the farmer told us is that highland cows don’t tire of human contact – and they don’t leave you alone.
“You have to stop grooming them because they will never have enough, so you have to set boundaries.”
Here you can have a guided experience, a selfie with the cows, groom them, tea and a bite to eat for £46 per person.
There are other options like the walking tour around the farm for £28pp, and even an ‘Insta Coo Tour’ where there’s ample time to take some enviable pictures from £24pp.
40-minutes in the other direction from Wigtown is Kirkcudbright, where John claims to have had some of the best food of his life at Swally n’ Scran.
You can pick up two courses for £19.95 – which includes scallops, haddock or crab.
John added: “The seafood is all locally sourced. I tried scallops andthe monkfish was incredible.”
You can see everything John and Fatiha got up to on Channel 4’s YouTube.
If you want to explore John and Fatiha’s itinerary for yourself then head to VisitScotland where you can see everywhere they explored.
For more on staycations, Sun Travel has some suggestions from North Wales to Cornwall and our favourite hotels.
And here’s more on the most popular Scottish city to visit in 2026, with Traitors castles and an epic road trip route.