Central Scottish Borders

Overview

The Tweed Valley, with its appealing blend of scenic rolling countryside, stately homes, ruined abbeys and picturesque towns and villages, dominates the central Scottish Borders.

The Tweed Valley's most famous sights are its ruined 12th century abbeys at Kelso, Jedburgh, Dryburgh and Melrose. The countryside is also strewn with ruined castles and keeps, relics of the turbulent 16th and 17th centuries when it was fought over by the English and the Scots, and plagued by endless clan warfare and Reivers' raids. Each major town here still celebrates its turbulent past in the Common Ridings, when locals dress up in period costume and ride out to check the burgh boundaries. They are boisterous affairs, performed with pride and matched only by the local love of rugby union, which reaches a crescendo with the Melrose Sevens tournament each April.

The Tweed Valley is the Borders at its best, with the finest section between Melrose and Peebles where there are a string of attractions such as the eccentricities of Sir Walter Scott's mansion at Abbotsford and the aforementioned ruined abbeys. The valley widens to the east to form the Merse basin, an area of rich arable land that boasts a series of grand stately homes, principally Floors Castle, Manderston, Paxton and Mellerstain House.

This part of the Borders has long been renowned as a centre for quality textile production and there are still a number of active mill towns in the area. Many people make a particular point of stopping at the factory shops in Galashiels and especially Hawick.