Melrose and Abbotsford – Eildon Hill, Abbey and Roman Museum
A day by car, from Melrose and back.
The route
Melrose is a small, handsome Border town with three hills at its back, and this is its day out: the hill, the abbey, the Romans and Walter Scott, all within a few miles of the Market Square.
The Romans knew the Eildon Hills as Trimontium, or three hills, a name they also gave to their fort at nearby Newstead, and the museum on the Square tells that story. Abbotsford, the house Scott built for himself, is a short drive up the Tweed. Melrose is about an hour and a quarter's drive from Edinburgh. Without a car, the Borders Railway runs from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, about two miles from Melrose and a mile's signed walk from Abbotsford.
Before you go
Book a table for lunch at Provender
Book a table at Provender for about half past twelve and ask for the express menu: it serves lunch from Wednesday to Saturday, and on other days Twelve Triangles on the Market Square opens daily.
Book Abbotsford, Home of Sir Walter Scott
Book a House and Gardens ticket for about 3pm online or at the visitor centre: the House is open from 1 March to 31 December, except a few days in mid-November, 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4pm.
The day
Melrose
A day in and around Melrose, under the three peaks of the Eildon Hills. It begins on the hill above the town and ends a few miles up the Tweed, at the house Walter Scott built.
16 min at the wheelAbout 6 miles by carAbout 4.5 miles on foot
Eildon Hills
An attraction
Be in the Abbey car park on Buccleuch Street by nine. The Eildon Hills Path starts here: 6 to 6.5 km over North Hill, about 300 metres of climbing, and 2 to 2.5 hours. It heads out on the Borders Abbeys Way towards Newstead, then climbs steeply to the 404-metre summit, ringed by the ramparts of a hill fort. On a clear day the view runs south to the Cheviots. The way down, by the saddle, ends in the Market Square. Wear boots. In low cloud, strong wind or ice, leave the hill out.
5 min on foot
Melrose Abbey
An attraction
It's 5 minutes' walk from the Market Square to the abbey. Monks from Rievaulx founded it in 1136, Scotland's first Cistercian abbey. Most of what stands today was rebuilt after an English army burned it in 1385: look up for its carved saints, dragons and gargoyles. See the museum in the Commendator's House first, as it shuts from noon to 2pm. Parts can be shut for conservation work: check its page before you go. Off the hill after a quarter to twelve? Give the abbey half an hour.
7 min on foot
Trimontium Museum
Lunch first, at Provender on the High Street, 7 minutes' walk from the abbey. It serves lunch Wednesday to Saturday: book for half past twelve and ask for the express menu. On other days, Twelve Triangles, a bakery on the Market Square, opens daily. The museum is on the Square too: Roman weapons, brooches and fragments of the fort at Newstead, named Trimontium for the Eildons' three peaks. Give it an hour, or half an hour if the hill ran long. Be back at the car by twenty to three.
3 min on foot back to the car, then 8 min by car
Abbotsford, Home of Sir Walter Scott
An attraction
The car is a short walk back at the Abbey car park. Then it's 8 minutes' drive on the bypass and the B6360 to the visitor centre. Walter Scott bought a farm here on the Tweed in 1811 and rebuilt it as his 'conundrum castle', with armour in the hall and a library looking down to the river. Book the House for about 3pm: last entry is 4pm, and everything shuts at 5pm. Leaving Melrose after a quarter to three? Keep to the walled garden and tea at Ochiltree's café.
If it rains
In rain, low cloud or wind, leave the hill out and start at the abbey at ten, with its museum in the Commendator's House first, under a roof. If the Trimontium Experience has a session that ends before half past twelve, book it in place of the museum hour: a guide leads a seated virtual-reality tour of the Roman fort, then the gallery, 75 to 90 minutes in all, for ages 8 and over. After lunch, Abbotsford's House and its café fill the afternoon indoors.
Worth a detour
- Scott’s View
Scott's View is a roadside viewpoint on Bemersyde Hill, about three miles east of Melrose on the B6356. The Tweed winds through the valley below and the three peaks of the Eildon Hills stand across it: the hill of the morning, seen from the side. Sir Walter Scott is said to have loved the view so much that his carriage horses would stop here of their own accord. It is 9 minutes' drive from the Abbey car park and 14 from Abbotsford, then 10 back to Melrose, so after Abbotsford it adds about 15 minutes. There is parking on the widened road. Leave it out if the House has run late.
- Leaderfoot Viaduct
Leaderfoot Viaduct carries nineteen brick arches across the Tweed, 126 feet above the valley floor, beside the A68 east of Melrose. It was built for the Berwickshire Railway, which closed to passengers in 1948, and the Roman fort of Trimontium lay a little to its south-west. Coming from Edinburgh by the A68 it is almost on the way and adds only a few minutes. From Abbotsford it is 11 minutes' drive and then 7 back to Melrose, so it adds about 10. Park by the road bridge.
Make it a weekend
More days out in the Scottish Borders.
Photograph by Torben Stevold via Google