How Timmy Mallett became a tourism ambassador

Timmy Mallett became a household name as a children's TV presenter in the 1980s and 1990s

One of television's most colourful characters of the 1980s and 1990s has become a somewhat surprising ambassador for the south of Scotland.

Timmy Mallett is probably best known for his role on the Wide Awake Club and its spin-off, Wacaday.

Nowadays, though, he is happiest getting out on his bicycle and touring around the country while stopping off to indulge his passion for painting.

It was his efforts to recreate a scene captured by his own father in Galloway that led - in a roundabout way - to him becoming a bit of a one-man promotional campaign for the area.

The TV presenter returned to complete "unfinished business" on the Rhins of Galloway in November

Back in 2018, Timmy came to the region on a mission to paint the same bridge his father had more than 50 years earlier.

That kindled a love for the area which has never gone away.

He returned last year on a bit of unfinished business - to cycle the Rhins of Galloway which he had been unable to complete due to bike issues on a previous coastal tour of Great Britain.

His videos on social media captured not only his journey but also his enthusiasm for the history and scenery.

That, in turn, prompted the South of Scotland Destination Alliance (SSDA) to ask him to give a talk at their annual conference to be held in Peebles in March.

The story, though, begins with the picture that his father painted which hung on the wall of the family home.

"My dad talked about this holiday that he and my mum had back in 1965 to Gatehouse of Fleet," he said.

"And there was this little bit in his diary about going in search of something to paint on the last day of his holiday on a sunny day."

They ended up at Skyreburn and scrambled their way to a little "secret" bridge.

"He painted this view with the sunlight coming through those autumn leaves and the trees giving lovely, beautiful reflections and shadows," said Timmy.

"My mum would have filled a little kettle and set up a wee fire and boiled herself a cup of tea.

"I can picture the picnic, you know, with fish paste and sandwich spread sandwiches that she'd have got that morning from the the little shop in Gatehouse where they were staying.

"It was such a wonderful moment of what holidays do for you and how you just recharge your batteries and I could just picture them."

No wonder, when he describes it that way, that he wanted to recreate the painting which he gave - along with his father's - to the nearby Kirkcubright Galleries.

On a previous visit, Timmy recreated his father's painting from the 1960s

Fast-forward to November last year and he was back in south-west Scotland in order to cycle the Rhins of Galloway - a vaguely mallett-shaped peninsula - which he had had to miss out previously.

Timmy said: "Isn't that a great name, The Rhins of Galloway?

"It's got something of the Tolkien or Lord of the Rings about it, hasn't it?".

During his previous visit he had got as far as Portpatrick before having to stop but he gathered a group of friends to complete the missing part.

"You think it's just that tiny little spur but it's got lots to it," he said.

"And particularly what appealed there was the Logan Botanic Gardens with its finest collection of tree ferns anywhere in Great Britain."

His social media posts in the Rhins and beyond at spots like Dunskey Castle, Garlieston and the Isle of Whithorn captured the area at its best.

"One of the things I do is just stop, I stop at every opportunity, have a look and be curious," he said.

"You know, you work on the assumption that you may not come this way again, so don't want to miss it.

"And I found it absolutely thrilling that the Rhins of Galloway could deliver quite so much."

Timmy gathered a group of friends to cycle round the Rhins of Galloway

That led to his invitation to talk about his love for Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders at the SSDA conference.

"I'm going to talk about my cycling and how it reveals so much and what there is to discover," he said.

"It does suffer a little bit from being hard to get to.

"It is tricky to get to, but it's worth making the effort and I think it's very exciting times with lots of possibilities."

Painting is one of Timmy's passions and he stopped off to capture local landmarks along his way

One possibility, of course, is a potential Galloway National Park - an issue Timmy says he has not got "strongly involved" in.

However, he said that anything which brought potential employment or infrastructure could only be a "good thing".

Above all, as a "solitary cyclist", his main priority would be to see more bike paths.

"If you're not going to rebuild the railway line, let's turn it into a proper cycle way," he suggested.

It could allow more people to be as evangelical about the region as the TV host who was a frantic feature of millions of people's childhoods but now enjoys life at a slower pace.

"I'm not in a hurry," he explained of his cycling adventures.

"It's not how fast you can go or how far - it's how much fun you have along the way and who you meet.

"And there's a warm welcome in southern Scotland that is just joyous. It embraces you and it says: 'Stay a while - have another macaroni pie'."