One of the loveliest and least-crowded corners of Britain, the Scottish Borders rewards anyone who lingers with a feast of enjoyable things to see and do, so don’t rush home! Extend your stay and you can take in some of these inspiring places to visit.
Thirlestane Castle in Lauder is a magnificent turreted house that has been home to the Maitland family since the 16th century, and it ranks among the oldest and finest inhabited castles in Scotland. Its tour season runs into October, so it’s open while you’re here, making it a fitting place to begin your exploration of the Scottish Borders, with riverside walks and grand staterooms on the doorstep of the event.
A short drive away lies Melrose, a handsome market town beneath the three peaks of the Eildon Hills. Here you’ll find the romantic ruin of Melrose Abbey, said to hold the buried heart of Robert the Bruce, and some of the best walking and eating in the region. The Borders are abbey country: Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Kelso form a quartet of medieval abbeys, each worth the journey, and Dryburgh’s tranquil setting on the Tweed is where Sir Walter Scott chose to be buried.
Scott is everywhere in this landscape. His extraordinary home, Abbotsford, sits on the banks of the River Tweed near Galashiels. It’s a house he designed himself, stuffed with curiosities and the very desk where he wrote. Nearby, the viewpoint known as Scott’s View looks out over the Eildons across country he loved so well that, by legend, his funeral horses stopped there out of habit.
This is also the home of Scottish textiles. The Borders towns built their name on tweed and fine knitwear, and you can still visit woollen mills and mill shops where the tradition continues. For something different again, Traquair House near Peebles claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland, complete with a yew maze and its own brewery.
And then there’s simply the country itself: the River Tweed, one of the great salmon rivers; the long-distance paths like the Southern Upland Way and the Borders Abbeys Way; and a string of welcoming towns and villages where a good lunch is never far away.
You can find out more about the heritage, traditions and community of the Scottish Borders in our Scottish Borders Showcase Marquee.
