Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
INFORMATION
Tourist o
ce
In a room on the town hall's ground floor
in The Square (Easter-June & Sept-Oct Mon-Sat
10am-4pm; July & Aug daily: 10am-5pm;
T
01573
228055).
ACCOMMODATION
Duncan House
Chalkheugh Terrace
T
01573 225682,
W
duncanhouse.co.uk.
Ideally sited, overlooking the
Tweed and beyond to Floors Castle, this guesthouse is
tastefully presented with period furnishings to match its
roomy Georgian dimensions. Ornate open
fires,
a black lab
and a friendly host make for a homely stay.
£65
Ì
The Old Priory
Woodmarket
T
01573 223030,
W
theoldpriorykelso.com.
Just off The Square, this is a
beautifully furnished Georgian townhouse, full of lived-in
character, and has a lush garden out back. There are two
double rooms, the best of which overlooks
the
garden, as
well as a two-room connected family suite.
£80
2
EATING AND DRINKING
Ì
Cobbles Inn
Bowmont St
T
01573 223548,
W
thecobbleskelso.co.uk.
This place has a formidable
reputation locally, not just for real ales (supplied by the
proprietor's own brewery, Tempest) but for its top-notch
gastro-cuisine. Leaning towards red meat and game the
menu reflects the regional country produce, with dishes
like lamb confit or barley-stuffed partridge both part of the
daytime set menu; two courses £21.
Mon-Thurs
11.30am-11pm,
Fri-Sat
11am-late,
Sun
noon-10pm.
Pharlanne
13 Bridge St
T
01573 229745,
W
pharlanne.co.uk.
This well stocked, upmarket deli
doubles as a café-bistro serving inexpensive, light lunches
including soup and home-made bread as well as cheese,
charcuterie and pâté plates with chutney and bread. Expect
to fill up for around £7-£8.
Mon-Sat 11.30am-4pm.
SHOPPING
Kelso Pottery
The Knowes; across the graveyard
from Kelso Abbey to the east
T
01573 224027.
Run by
Ian and Elizabeth Hird, this uses differing colours of local
clay to make a variety of objects, including “Time
Tablets”, using patterns from other countries, all
wrapped in dried local vegetation and fired in their large
outdoor pit kiln.
Tues-Sat 10am-1pm & 2-5pm.
Melrose and around
Tucked in between the Tweed and the gorse-backed Eildon Hills, minuscule
MELROSE
is one of the most appealing towns in the Borders. Centred on its busy little market
square, its narrow streets are trimmed by a harmonious ensemble of styles, from pretty
little cottages and tweedy shops to high-standing Georgian and Victorian facades. Its
chief draw is its ruined
abbey
, by far the finest of the Border abbeys, but it's also
perfectly positioned for exploring the Tweed valley. Most of the year it's a sleepy little
place, but as the birthplace in 1883 of the
Rugby Sevens
(seven-a-side games), it
swarms during Sevens Week (second week in April), during the
Borders Book Festival
in June, and again in early September when it hosts the
Melrose Music Festival
, a
popular weekend of traditional music attracting folkies from afar.
Melrose Abbey
Abbey St • Daily: April-Sept 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct-March 9.30am-4.30pm • £5.50; HS
he pink- and red-tinted stone ruins of
Melrose Abbey
soar above their riverside
surroundings. Founded in 1136 by King David I, Melrose was the first Cistercian
settlement in Scotland and grew rich selling wool and hides to Flanders, but its
prosperity was fragile: the English repeatedly razed Melrose, most viciously
under Richard II in 1385 and the Earl of Hertford in 1545. Most of the present
remains date from the intervening period, when extensive rebuilding abandoned the
original Cistercian austerity for an elaborate, Gothic style inspired by the abbeys of
northern England.
he site is dominated by the
Abbey Church
, which has lost its west front, and whose
nave is reduced to the elegant window arches and chapels of the south aisle.
Amazingly, the stone
pulpitum
(screen), separating the choir monks from their lay
