At the meeting of the waters, you’ll still hear folks reminiscing about the time they used to picnic by the river before ‘the new bridge’ was built. Constructed in 1974 but still thought of as new and just as much maligned as the day it arrived. Along from here is Abbotsford House, historically important and […]

Kelso Abbey was founded in the 12th century by Tironensian monks during the reign of Alexander I, and once stood as one of Scotland’s most powerful monastic houses. Overlooking the meeting of the Tweed and Teviot rivers, it occupied a strategic site near Roxburgh, the intended southern stronghold of the emerging Scottish kingdom. This abbey […]

Founded in 1150 when Hugh de Morville invited Premonstratensian canons from Alnwick to settle here, their arrival marked the beginning of centuries of devotion and resilience. The abbey endured fire and destruction during the border wars, burned by English troops in 1322 and again by Richard II in 1385, yet it rose from the ashes […]

Melrose Abbey was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I, and became Scotland’s most important monastic house until the Reformation. The abbey’s east end was completed in 1146, and over the next fifty years its soaring Gothic architecture took shape in the form of a St John’s Cross. Though […]

Garden cultivation in Scotland began in the 15th century, mainly among monasteries, royalty, and the wealthy. Early gardens were practical, growing herbs and food, and influenced by European styles. For example, Traquair House, Scotland’s oldest inhabited home by the River Tweed, features historic orchards and parkland. The 18th Century saw a surge in the creation […]

2025 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), one of Britain’s greatest and most influential landscape painters. Known for his dramatic skies and luminous watercolours, Turner transformed how we see nature. Turner was captivated by the Scottish Borders and painted several scenes along the River Tweed, capturing its serene […]