Guide to R Ural Scotland the BORDERS
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Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 1 Guide to Rural Scotland THE BORDERS A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 2 y Guide to Rural Scotland LOCATOR MAP LOCATOR EDINBURGH Haddington Cockburnspath e Dalkeith Gifford St. Abbs Grantshouse EAST LOTHIAN Livingston Humbie W. LOTHIAN Penicuik MIDLOTHIAN Ayton Eyemouth Temple Longformacus Preston West Linton Duns Chirnside Leadburn Carfraemill Lauder Berwick Eddleston Greenlaw Stow Peebles Coldstream THE BORDERS Biggar Eccles Galashiels Lowick Melrose Broughton Kelso Thornington Traquair n Yarrow Selkirk Roxburgh Kirknewton Tweedsmuir Ancrum Ettrickbridge Morebattle BORDERS (Scottish) Jedburgh Ettrick Hawick Denholm Glanton Bonchester Bridge Carter Moffat Bar Davington Teviothead Ramshope Rothbury Eskdalemuir Saughtree Kielder Otterburn Ewesley Boreland Kirkstile Castleton Corrie Stannersburn Newcastleton Risdale M Lochmaben Langholm Lockerbie NORTHUMBERLAND Towns and Villages Abbey St Bathans pg 7 Eyemouth pg 9 Mellerstain pg 18 Ancrum pg 33 Fogo pg 15 Melrose pg 18 Ayton pg 9 Foulden pg 10 Minto pg 31 Broughton pg 41 Galashiels pg 16 Morebattle pg 34 Chirnside pg 9 Gordon pg 18 Neidpath Castle pg 38 Clovenfords pg 17 Greenlaw pg 15 Newcastleton pg 35 Cockburnspath pg 7 Hawick pg 30 Paxton pg 10 Coldingham pg 8 Hutton pg 9 Peebles pg 36 Coldstream pg 11 Innerleithen pg 38 Selkirk pg 25 Denholm pg 31 Jedburgh pg 31 Smailholm pg 21 Drumelzier pg 39 Kailzie Gardens pg 38 St Abb’s pg 8 Dryburgh pg 24 Kelso pg 21 St Boswells pg 24 Duns pg 5 Kirk Yetholm pg 35 St Mary’s Loch pg 29 Earlston pg 20 Ladykirk pg 11 Stobo pg 40 Eccles pg 13 Lauder pg 15 Stow pg 18 Ednam pg 23 Lyne pg 40 Traquair pg 39 Edrom pg 9 Maxton pg 24 West Linton pg 41 A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 3 The Borders Guide to Rural Scotland Of all the regions in Scotland, the Borders has are, strictly speaking, no clans in the Scottish the bloodiest history. It was here, in the 15th Borders. Instead there are families, such as the and 16th centuries, that the constant bickering Armstrongs, the Kerrs, the Maxwells and the between Scotland and England boiled over into Homes. bloodshed and outright war. This was the land The Borders are sometimes dismissed by THE BORDERS of the reivers, or moss troopers - men from people who consider them to be ‘not the real both countries who regularly crossed the border Scotland’. And yet they have more historical and raped, pillaged, burnt and rustled their way associations than anywhere else in Scotland. It into the history books. People nowadays tend to was here, and not the Highlands, that the romanticise them, but in fact most were Scottish nation as we know it today was forged. merciless thugs, and no one was safe from their The area stretches from the North Sea in the activities. They even gave the word blackmail to east, to the borders of Dumfriesshire in the the English language. An old legend states that west, and contains four former counties – when a male born in the Borders was baptised, Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire and his right hand was excluded from the ceremony Berwickshire. The scenery is gentler than the so that he could use it to kill and maim. Highlands, and the hills are rounded and green, But it was also the land of romance, of with fertile valleys, quiet villages and cosy Border ballads and tales of high chivalry. The market towns to explore. That flat area of literature of Sir Walter Scott, a Borders man, is Berwickshire known as the Merse, roughly steeped in them. It was he who, almost single- between the Lammermuir Hills and the English handedly, invented Scotland’s modern image, border, is one of the most intensely farmed which depends not on the softer scenery of areas in Britain. the Borders, but on lofty mountains, clan There are castles and old houses aplenty, chiefs, skirling bagpipes and kilts. In fact, there from Floors Castle just outside Kelso, home of the Duke of Roxburgh, to 10th- century Traquair House in Peeblesshire, said to be the oldest continually inhabited house in Scotland. Mellerstain too, is worth visiting, as are Paxton, Manderston, Thirlestane and Abbotsford. But perhaps the area’s most beautiful and haunting buildings are its ruined abbeys. Again and again English soldiers attacked St Abbs Head them, and again and again, as the A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 4 Scots crossed the Guide to Rural Scotland border bent on revenge, the monks repeatedly got on with rebuilding and repairing them. Today, the ruins at Melrose, Kelso, Dryburgh and Jedburgh are carefully tended by THE BORDERS Historic Scotland. The area’s great icon is the River Tweed, which, for part of its length, forms the boundary between River Tweed, nr Innerleithen Scotland and England. Just east of Kelso, the border turns south, and recently created Tweed Valley Forest Park, the river is wholly Scottish. Its fame rests on between Peebles and Selkirk, is one of the best. salmon, though not as many are caught At Glentress Forest, a few miles east of nowadays as there used to be. But it is still a Peebles, you can hire mountain bikes at the river that in some ways defines the region, and Hub car park. This is one of the most visited most of its larger towns and villages, from woodland areas in Scotland, and attracts more Peebles to Coldstream, are to be found on its than 250,000 visitors a year. But they are also banks. working forests, managed by the Forestry The Borders is also an area of woodland and Commission, and form an integral part of the forests, with plenty of woodland walks. The area’s economy. A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 5 Duns and the Lammermuir Hills to the north can Guide to Rural Scotland be seen on a clear day, as can the North Sea, D Duns Law C Covenanter’s Stone A Duns Castle 12 miles away. In 1639, a Covenanting army of G John Duns Scotus E Duns Castle Nature Reserve 12,000 men, which opposed the imposition of bishops on the Scottish church by Charles I, G Jim Clark Memorial Trophy Room set up camp here under General Leslie, and a A G Manderston House Seigneur de la Beauté Covenanter’s Stone commemorates this Berwickshire is an unusual county, in that the event. There are also the remains of an Iron town from which it takes its name has been Age fort, plus some defensive works built by THE BORDERS part of England since 1482. Therefore the Covenanting army. Greenlaw, and then, in 1853, Duns, was General Leslie was quartered in Duns chosen as the county town. It is a quiet, restful Castle, built round the core of a 14th-century place with a wide and gracious market square. pele tower owned by the Earl of Moray, who Up until the 18th century, it was known as had been given the surrounding lands by Dunse. Its motto, Duns Dings A, means Duns Robert the Bruce. In 1696, it was bought by overcomes everything. the Hay family, who enlarged it between 1818 On its outskirts is the 713-feet-high Duns and 1822, creating the Gothic Revival building Law from whose summit there are we see today. The family has lived here ever magnificent views of the surrounding since. Though not open to the public, it is a countryside. The Cheviot Hills to the south venue for weddings and corporate hospitality. NUMBER 18 18 Market Square, Duns, Borders TD11 3BY Tel: 01361 884800 e-mail: [email protected] Shirley Redpath opened her gift and coffee shop number 18 in 2006 and it has speedily established itself as a meeting point and as a place to find that inspired gift for a friend or indeed something for yourself. In fact so popular has it become that she has now moved the coffee side just across the street to a bigger premises at 17 Market Square where she and her business partner Moira can now serve you delightful meals and sharing platters accompanied by a glass or perhaps two of wine. Number 18 has a large range of stylish jewellery, beautful scarves and fashion accessories. From candles and bags to cufflinks and ties - pop in for a browse and you are sure to find the perfect gift or treat. A historic building B museum and heritage C historic site D scenic attraction E flora and fauna F stories and anecdotes G famous people H art and craft I entertainment and sport J walks Looking for somewhere to stay, eat, drink or shop? www.findsomewhere.co.uk 6 MANSEFIELD BED AND BREAKFAST Guide to Rural Scotland Mansefield, Greenlaw, Duns, Berwickshire TD10 6YF Tel/Fax: 01361 810260 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.aboutscotland.com/duns/mansefield.html Mansefield is a superb Scottish Georgian Manse set in its own gardens with paddocks and 250 metres of river-bank on the Blackadder – a tributary of the River Tweed.