Jedburgh – The Jed Water and the Oaks of the Old Jed Forest

The walk

Park at the Canongate car park, beside the A68 in the middle of Jedburgh. It's free. The public toilets are at the Lothian Park car park, open 7am to 6pm for a small charge. Both of these walks are Scottish Borders Council's, and both start at Abbey Place, a couple of minutes away below the abbey. The short one is three miles, or 5 km, and takes about an hour and a half. It keeps close to the Jed Water on a wide, fairly level path that is mostly tarmac. It crosses Canongate Bridge, a sixteenth-century bridge of three spans that was once the main way into the town and now carries only walkers, and it passes the Goose Pool, where the townsfolk used to keep their geese. The return is by the old drive of Hartrigge, a Victorian mansion that has since been pulled down.

The longer walk is five and a half miles, or 8.5 km, and the council allows two to three hours. It heads south on quiet roads, farm tracks and field paths, which can be muddy. The old oaks are the reason to go, the last of the ancient Jed Forest. One, the King of the Wood, is thought to be 400 years old. The Capon Tree, beside the A68, is another great survivor, with huge limbs that twist out wide and low. Each year the riders of Jedburgh's Callants' Festival halt here for a ceremony. A short diversion leads to Ferniehirst Castle, the sixteenth-century seat of Clan Kerr. It's a private house, open to visitors only on set dates.

The last stretch back into town is on the pavement beside the A68. Livestock, sometimes with young, graze the fields at Kersheugh, so keep dogs on a lead there. The council has closed the footbridge over the Jed at Bonjedward Mill, downstream of the town, until further notice. Neither walk uses it, but don't plan on crossing there if you wander farther down the river. From November to January, start the longer walk by 11.30am. Jedburgh's cafés are a few minutes from the car park, round the High Street.