Border Tours : A Taste of the Borders

We aim to cram a bit of everything into this tour, A Grand Stately House, A Ruined Abbey,
A Whisky Distillery and wonderful scenery to give you a sample of what we have on offer, we hope that you will return for a longer visit.

We will visit Mellerstain, a beautiful Georgian House and the Borders unique Adams Mansion.  It was begun in 1725 by William Adam and completed 70 years later by Robert Adam.  Mellerstain houses a superb Art collection, including Van Dyck, Gainsborough and Ramsay.

The House stands in acres of beautiful parkland with a mix of formal and informal areas.  The Italian-styled terraced garden was laid out in 1909 by Sir Reginald Blomfield.  Time will be given to visit the house and gardens, there is an unusual thatched cottage in the grounds and the Courtyard Tea Room sells a range of home cooked food, don’t overdo it however because we go onto The Teviot Smokery and Water Gardens were we will stop for Lunch. 

The Smokery prides itself on using home grown herbs and the freshest local produce in its Conservatory Restaurant.  Feel free to visit the 3 level waterpark, the moving and still expanses of water mirror the river below and the ponds house not only aquatic plants but an array of goldfish, carp and tench among others.  The smokery foodhall sells a selection of smoked fish, game and cheeses as well as other mouth-watering products, they also offer a mail order service and gift hampers made to order.

Our next stop is Melrose Abbey, work started in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the behest of King David 1st of Scotland.  It is probably the most famous of the 4 Border Abbeys and certainly very beautiful with its Gothic Arches.  Look out for the Bagpipe playing Pig gargoyle.  Robert the Bruce’s heart is reputedly buried here (His body is buried at Dunfermline Abbey) although not proven an embalmed heart was unearthed here and was of the correct time period.

Its back on the bus and heading North for Glenkinchie Distillery near Pencaitland (Okay we cheated Glenkinchie is not part of the Borders but its close enough?).

Here you can see the distillers at work, creating malt whisky from Scottish barley and pure fresh water from the nearby Lammermuir hills.  You can have a sample of the malts in the distillery bar and bag yourself a bottle in the shop.

This concludes our whistle-stop tour of the borders and we will now return you to your accommodation.