The man who collected Auld Lang Syne and who wrote A Red, Red Rose, Ae Fond Kiss and Ode to a Mouse may well belong to the world. But the only true “Burns country” is the Scottish Borders and Lowlands.

Dumfries is where the bard, with his dimpled chin and dark sideburns, wrote prolifically, charmed the lassies and died young like a rock star.

Down a dark, flagstoned alley, the 17th-century Globe Inn at Dumfries hides itself from the high street. Packed with Burns pictures and memorabilia, this inn is not just a popular shrine to the poet.

It was his local. Robert Burns used to sit in here bantering with friends. It was here, too, in 1819, that well-wishers gathered to honour Burns's memory with what was arguably the first official Burns Night haggis supper.

Burns was born 250 years ago in Ayrshire, 60 miles to the west, and he drew inspiration all his life from its gently rolling hills, hedgerows and puddled fields. Preserved as the Robert Burns National Heritage Park, the leafy Ayrshire haven of Alloway flourishes as a suburb of the resort of Ayr and is an essential stop on the Burns trail.

There, in a two-room thatched cottage, baby Robert, the first child of Agnes and William Burns, was delivered on January 25, 1759. Living in poverty, with livestock in an adjoining room, the boy learnt traditional songs from his mother, absorbed tales of the supernatural from Betty, his elderly cousin, and inherited a love of books from his father.

Outside you can walk the same green lanes as the young Burns and watch buzzards soar above the birches. The ruins of Alloway's Auld Kirk are here too, which Burns described in his epic poem Tam O'Shanter. Against these lichen-encrusted walls, Burns depicted old Betty's warlocks and witches cavorting to the Devil's bagpiping.

And there is another atmospheric treat - especially if you walk over it in the twilight - the humpbacked 15th-century Brig O'Doon, where the eponymous Tam fled on his grey mare, pursued by Nan, the rampant half-naked witch.

Then comes the haggis (don't imagine that you can avoid it). The splendidly baronial, ivy-clad Brig O'Doon House hotel serves it in the traditional way, with tatties an' neeps, while the Tam O'Shanter Inn in Ayr, where Burns verses are inscribed on its 18th-century walls, the colourful assemblage is layered as a “Haggis Gateau”.

Head east from Alloway and you will come to the village of Mauchline, and the red-brick Burns House where the poet lived from 1788 with his wife and greatest love, Jean Armour. It was about this time that his poems were first published. A prized copy of the Kilmarnock edition survives in this warmly atmospheric museum of personal artefacts, letters and manuscripts.

At Ellisland, near Dumfries, you can also visit the farm, by the tree-fringed River Nith, where the couple struggled to make a living. “Typically, Burns chose this place more for its romantic, idyllic setting than the quality of the soil,” says Les Byers, the curator of Ellisland Farm.

A year later the couple left for Dumfries, where Burns worked as an excise man while writing more than 300 poems and songs from a two-storey sandstone house in Mill Street.

The poet's autograph is scratched in the window with a diamond ring, and you can see the room where he died, at the age of 37, on July 21, 1796, his health broken by the rigours of a rural childhood.

Up to 30,000 people watched his funeral procession beneath the town's landmark, Mid Steeple. Burns is commemorated in a marble statue - he is standing at his plough - in his mausoleum by St Michael's Church. At the poet's feet huddles the mouse that became his “wee sleekit cow'rin' tim'rous beastie”.

Back in the Globe Inn, I admired the preserved bedroom with the four-poster bed where Burns seduced the landlord's daughter.

Downstairs, haggis was, predictably, on the menu. There really is no getting away from it: in a nearby Chinese restaurant, the “chieftain o' the puddin' race” was offered to me as a starter, deep fried in batter with chilli sauce.

Around these parts, every night is Burns Night.

NEED TO KNOW

Robert Burns is the inspiration for Homecoming Scotland 2009 - a year-long celebration of Scottish culture, heritage and contributions to the world. Copies of the free Homecoming Scotland 2009 guide are available from airports, railway and bus stations, Tourist Information Centres, libraries, hotels and other public places. Or visit www.homecomingscotland2009.com for more information .

Where to stay

Brig O'Doon House Hotel (01292 442466, www.costley-hotels.co.uk) in Alloway has double rooms from £120, including breakfast. Torbay Lodge (01387 253922, www.torbaylodge.co.uk) in Dumfries has double rooms from £54, including breakfast.

Where to eat The Globe (01387 252335, www.globeinndumfries.co.uk).

Further information www.visitscotland.com

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