The team behind the campaign to save Robert Burns’s Ellisland Farm will take over The Standard on Dumfries High Street on Saturday 12 September, giving local people the opportunity to find out about plans to restore the poet’s former home and have their say on its future.

The pop-up runs from 10am to 3pm in The Front Shop, The Standard’s retail and event space on the High Street next to the Midsteeple, a building that would have been a familiar sight to Burns during his years in Dumfries. Staff from Ellisland Museum & Farm will be on hand with activities and information about the Saving the Home of Auld Lang Syne project, which aims to restore the only home designed and built by Robert Burns.

Burns lived at Ellisland, on the banks of the River Nith north of Dumfries, from 1788 to 1791. It was here that he wrote Auld Lang Syne, Tam o Shanter and more than a quarter of his life’s work. The Category A listed farmhouse is now the focus of a major restoration project led by the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust, with planning permission secured and conservation plans approved.

The pop-up follows a successful Doors Open Days weekend at Ellisland, when almost 120 visitors joined free guided tours of the site and shared their views on the project.

Joan McAlpine, Project Director of the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust, said: “We had a wonderful response at Doors Open Days, and now we want to bring Ellisland into the heart of Dumfries. Not everyone can get out to the farm, so we’re coming to the town centre instead. Whether you’re doing your shopping or stopping for lunch, come in and say hello. We want to hear what local people think, because their views will help shape the future of Ellisland.”

The Ellisland team will be at The Front Shop, The Standard, 139 High Street, Dumfries, on Saturday 12 September from 10am to 3pm. No booking is required.