Ski resort to open at Wanlockhead in Southern Uplands

Lowther Hills Ski Club has applied for planning permission to build a clubhouse and rope tow

A new ski resort is expected to open in southern Scotland within weeks.

The Lowther Hills Ski Club has applied for planning permission to build a clubhouse and a 600m rope tow on the slope near Wanlockhead.

It is hoping to attract snowsports enthusiasts from across Scotland and the north of England to the village in Dumfries and Galloway.

It is part of a wider plan to market the area as a year-round sports resort.

Those behind the proposals hope to eventually offer visitors to the Southern Uplands the chance to do a range of different activities including mountain biking, hill-walking, golf and curling.

Lowther Hills Ski Club chairman Anjo Abelaira said: "The ski facilities will put the village on the map and it will bring people to the area.

"We will be staffed by volunteers and mainly open at weekends. We will be open for about 25 days between December and March."

Lowther Hill was a busy ski resort in the 1960s and 1970s when there was a permanent ski tow on the slope.

It fell out of fashion in the 1980s however, and since then local people have occasionally used a portable tow to get up the hillside.