Straiton is neatly placed a hundred yards above a sweeping bend of the winding Water of Girvan. Probably the first feature to impress the visitor is the width of the village street with its attractive stone-built cottages. The outline of Craigengower (the Hill of the Goats in Gaelic) forms a backdrop to the settlement itself. On the skyline stands the obelisk erected to the memory of Lt Col James Hunter Blair, killed at the battle of Inkerman in 1854.