Newton Stewart is a former burgh town lying within the Penninghame (old civil parish area) and Machars peninsula, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway. The town lies around the River Cree with the majority of the town to the west of the river, and is sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to the Galloway Hills".
Newton Stewart has also recently been twinned with the French town of Marcoussis.
The main local industries are agriculture, forestry and tourism. The town hosts a local market, and a number of services to support the farming industry. Newton Stewart lies on the southern edge of the Galloway Forest Park, which supplies a large amount of jobs to the town.
There are numerous nature trails nearby as part of Galloway Forest Park, managed on behalf of the state by Forest Enterprise. There is a local museum at St. John's Church, a doll's house exhibition and a butterfly and tropical plant house nearby. The latter two are no longer open for visitors. Newton Stewart is also only 7 miles from Scotland's book town Wigtown.
