Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 28 on 20/09/2006.

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Break for the Borders

Charles Douglas investigates Scotland’s historic Border country

The definition Scottish Borders is misleading since not all of the counties encompassed within its boundaries ajoin England.

With its headquarters at Newtown St Boswell, the region today incorporates the former districts of Berwickshire, Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale and Tweedale, thereby encompassing approximately 1,800 square miles.

The Borders of Scotland, however, provide a dazzling alternative to the better known mountain landscapes of the Scottish Highlands.

Visitors motoring from England to Scotland will travel on the M6, diverting onto the A74(M) towards Beattock and Moffat, and west towards Glasgow. Those traveling across the Borders will take the A7 towards Langholm in Dumfriesshire, then find themselves passing through Hawick and Selkirk. From Carter Barr, the A68 travels on to Jedburgh. From Berwick-upon-Tweed on the eastern coastline, the A1 runs north to Dunbar and eventually Edinburgh.

Once over Carter Bar, the initial impression may appear to be of a bleak, unpopulated landscape dotted with sheep, but as Jedburgh, in the gentle valley of the Jed Water, comes into sight the surroundings become increasingly wooded and more welcoming.

The red sandstone Jedburgh Abbey was founded in 1138 by David I for Augustinian canons from Beauvais in France, but since the ensuing years brought many English invasions, only ruins remain. In 1516, Mary Queen of Scots passed this way to visit her lover and future husband Lord Bothwell at Hermitage Castle.

To the west is H.....

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By Charles Douglas

Section : Regional Focus

Page number : 30