Galashiels – The Great Tapestry and Breakfast in Selkirk
A few hours.
The route
Scotland's whole story, from prehistory to the present day, has been stitched in wool on linen by about a thousand people.
It hangs in a bright gallery made for it in Galashiels, one of the Borders' old mill towns. This morning starts with good coffee and sourdough French toast in Selkirk and then gives the panels the couple of hours they deserve.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is The Scullery in Yarrow, 11 miles away. Sleeps 2; next free Fri 13 Nov to Sun 15 Nov.
Book the Great Tapestry of Scotland
The centre highly recommends booking your ticket online before you go; tickets are sold at the door too.
The day
Galashiels
A morning in two Borders towns a short drive apart: breakfast on Selkirk's High Street, then the long upstairs gallery in Galashiels where a whole country's story unrolls panel by panel.
About three and a half hours
Three Hills Coffee
Breakfast
Start with breakfast in Selkirk at Three Hills, a small coffee roaster with its café on the High Street. The coffee is roasted at its own roastery in the Borders and changes every few days, and the dish to order is what the café calls its famous sourdough French toast, with scones, flapjacks and cakes on the counter too.
16 min by car
The Great Tapestry of Scotland
An attraction
Galashiels is 16 minutes' drive north up the A7, and its great stitched history of Scotland has a gallery of its own on the High Street, built for it and opened in 2021. The nearest car park is the High Street one, behind the Iceland supermarket. A lift takes you up to the gallery, where the 160 panels take in everything from Bannockburn to millworkers, herring girls and sport. The idea was Alexander McCall Smith's, the historian Alistair Moffat chose the stories and the artist Andrew Crummy drew them. Screens in the gallery and the centre's own app tell the stories behind the panels, and children can follow an audio trail written and read by pupils of a local primary school. Give it an hour or two, then lunch in the centre's Stitchers Café, where dogs are welcome; only assistance dogs go into the gallery.
If it rains
All of it is under a roof, apart from the short walks from the car parks.
On the way
- The Haining
The Haining is Selkirk's old estate, a late 18th-century mansion in parkland with a big loch, woods and paths, and its grounds are open to everyone all year. Walk down to the water for a turn along the loch, and look for the statue of Old Ginger, the dog born here in 1842 from whom every Dandie Dinmont terrier's male line descends. The house itself opens only for events.
Cameron's Bakery, a café in Selkirk.
Photographs by J J, R J and arthur hepton via Google
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