We’ve recently paid two visits to the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders – an overnight trip to Kelso in mid-May and a three night visit to Melrose in early July. We have visited the area before, between 1985 and 2015, usually just stopping for a pint along our way to elsewhere, but never stopped for longer.
The aim of these visits was to get to know the area a bit better and, in particular, to find the best pubs selling real ale. Our travels revealed it to be excellent cycling and walking country (not possible for us these days due to dodgy knees) and it would be a good base for longer holidays. While there are tourists around and they are important to the local economy, nowhere felt over-run and the overall vibe was relaxing.
The first visit this year was to Kelso. We caught a train to Berwick upon Tweed, where we had 45 minutes to wait for a bus. It was about 11 in the morning so, instead of or usual method of passing time (go for a pint) we walked down the path next to the station and found ourselves in Castle View Park. We sat there peacefully – there wasn’t another soul around – taking in the view over the River Tweed and the Royal Border Bridge.
Henderson Park and the River Tweed, Coldstream – England on the opposite bank
Ted and I decided to break our bus journey to Kelso in Coldstream. My English wrinkly free bus pass doesn’t apply in Scotland (and vice versa for Scottish passholders) and there’s no Scottish equivalent of the current £3 single fare limit so it cost me £5.90 for the journey, though only the final mile was in Scotland. Not complaining – it was a pleasant journey. We had a brief wander around Coldstream and looked at the view across the Tweed from Henderson Park, then went for a beer.
The Newcastle Arms Hotel had the feel of a locals pub – pleasant, friendly and a decent pint of Tyneside Blonde. There is two hours between buses so there was also time for a pint in the Besom Inn – another good pub, a bit more upmarket and centred around food – it’s a pity that the real ale was off that day.
We travelled onward to Kelso and checked into the Queens Head Hotel – a little expensive but we had a large, comfortable room and a good breakfast. We had a walk round the town centre and the pleasant central square (known as The Square). We looked at the ruined Abbey (closed to punters because it is collapsing – not surprising after that length of time). Beyond the Abbey we continued down Bridge Street to Kelso Bridge (they are inventive with names around here), with views over the Tweed Valley to Floors Castle. Back in town we noticed plenty of good quality independent shops and fewer of the large chains.
Kelso Abbey
In the early evening, after a rest, we set out to explore the pubs. There are three pubs in Kelso listed in the 2025 CAMRA Good Beer Guide (GBG). We tried them all, they were welcoming and friendly and we would happily recommend them. We made sure we sampled beers from the local breweries – Tempest based in Melrose (see below) and Born, based in Jedburgh. Rutherfords Micropub, on The Square, is a small pub in an ideal location, with an outside terrace overlooking The Square. Nearby are Cobbles Freehouse, a food-focussed pub selling Tempest beers and 1905, the most traditional of the pubs.
On our return bus journey to Berwick the following day we broke the journey in Norham, on the English side of the Tweed. It is a pretty village with a castle nearby – the view of which from the village was painted by Turner. (pictured). We walked a little way out of the village, across a field and down by the river. The peace and quiet reminded me of the days when we regularly went walking in the countryside. There are two pubs – the Victoria Hotel was busy and very food based but the beer was fine, while the Masons Arms had lunchtime regulars, some good banter and a choice of two real ales.
We caught the next bus to Berwick , made sure we had time for a visit to the excellent GBG-listed Pilot, before heading for our train back to Durham.
Inside Rutherfords Micropub, Kelso (and an ad in the Gents)
Our friend Ken joined Ted and I on our second visit, this time meeting up at Edinburgh Waverley to catch the Borders Railway train to Galashiels. The line was reopened in 2015 and it was good to observe that the train was busy. There’s not much to see on the outskirts of Edinburgh but, as we travelled through the Moorfoot Hills the views were better.
The terminus of the line at Tweedbank (in the middle of nowhere) is not far from our destination Melrose. However, the half-hourly bus into Melrose departs the station about three minutes before the half-hourly train arrives. Galashiels bus station is adjacent to the railway station and instead of the 20 minute wait we decided to go into town for a pint in the two GBG-listed pubs.
It was pouring with rain when we scurried to the Hunters Hall, the local Wetherspoons – not my favourite pub chain but this one was OK and, as usual, cheap. We then traipsed through the monsoon to the Salmon Inn which was much more of a pub. The torrential showers gave way to sunny spells and light showers for the rest our trip.
25 minutes on the bus brought us to Melrose, a small town with a population of 2500, sandwiched between the River Tweed and the Eildon Hills. We chose it because it is central for travelling around the area by bus. We settled into our base for three nights – a two-bedroom flat called Clyde (the owners’ other properties are also named after rivers), located in a wynd just off the High Street. It had recently been converted and was well furnished and equipped.
There are four places that sell real ale, all of them hotel, all also serve food and over the course of our visit we visited them all – the George and Abbotsford, Burts Hotel , the Kings Arms and the Station Hotel. The first two are GBG listed. The George gets some locals in and was fine on one visit and a bit dominated by someone watching sport being played loudly on his mobile phone on the other. Burts is very food dominated – the food was popular which means that it is difficult just to wander into the bar for a drink. It may have been an off night but we didn’t like the Kings Arms – poor quality, expensive beer and some objectionable customers. The Station was more of a locals place and pleasant when we visited.
On a short stay we didn’t get into cooking. There was a lack of takeaways – the chip shop tried to do too many things (pizza, kebabs etc) and didn’t do any of them very well, and the Thai restaurant was closed for holidays. We had a full fried breakfast in Marmions Brasserie and there are other cafes and coffee shops available, plus a Co-op and independent shops for those self-catering.
Melrose has its own sights to visit. The most important is Melrose Abbey – yet another ruined Borders abbey. I had assumed they were destroyed during the Reformation but it turns out they were also attacked by English raiders during the many border skirmishes which kept both sides busy over the years.
Close to Melrose is Trimontium, the site of an important Roman Fort (which I’d never heard of – not mentioned during my Scottish education, though excavation began in 1905). It was occupied for about 100 years from 79CE. It was the largest outpost north of Hadrians Wall and the most northerly settlement of the Roman Empire. In Melrose itself is the Trimontium Museum and it also possible to walk around the site, a couple of miles to the East. Like other Borders towns Melrose is big on rugby and was the birthplace of Rugby Sevens.
Close to Tweedbank Station is the Tempest Brewery Taproom, which we paid a visit. The entry on CAMRAs site states that there are 16 taps and we were looking forward to trying some beers. Had we read further it was clear that only one of them was a cask tap, which was a beer not to our taste – less cask choice than in the Cobbles in Kelso. A bit of a pointless visit.
We paid a return visit to Kelso as Ken hadn’t been and dragged him round the three pubs. A pleasant afternoon, though some of the beer quality wasn’t as good as on our previous visit – they may have been the first poured of the day or been affected in the cellar by the very hot weather a few days earlier. However, we coped.
Jedburgh Abbey
Our other day out was to Jedburgh, which has yet another ruined abbey to look at. The town has a number of impressive older buildings from its heyday as the County town of Roxburghshire but it felt a little run down and very quiet for a Friday afternoon, though it was gearing up for the annual Callants Festival However, we found the Canon which looked like a fine community pub – quiet when we were in just after it opened at 1500.
On the return journey to Melrose, we stopped off in Ancrum and were in the Good Beer Guide listed Cross Keys shortly after it opened at 1600. It has a small unspoilt public bar, which was busy within a short time after opening. The Born Blonde was excellent and the staff and customers were friendly. We stayed longer than intended and agreed that it was definitely the best pub of the trip.
When it was time to head home we took the bus along to Tweedbank Station (the connections are better in this direction) and headed into Edinburgh. For the last part of the journey the train was full and standing, such is the success of the railway. We spent some time in the Abbotsford and the Guildford (as good as ever) before saying cheerio to Ken and catching the train home
Practicalities
Our lodgings:
May visit: Queens Head Hotel, 24 Bridge St, Kelso TD5 7JD,
July visit: The Clyde Apartment, The Wynd, Buccleuch St, Melrose TD6 9LD. We booked through booking.com but it is also on Airbnb and several holiday cottage sites.
Getting around by bus:
The key bus services are Borders Buses 67 and 68. Details are at www.bordersbuses.co.uk and on the Borders Buses app. Jointly they run every 30 minutes (hourly Sundays) between Galashiels, Tweedbank, Melrose and St Boswells until about 2000, Beyond St. Boswells, the 67 continues hourly (every two hours on Sunday) to Kelso where a change of bus connects to Coldstream, Norham and Berwick every two hours. (limited Sunday service). The 68 continues hourly (every two hours Sundays) to Jedburgh via Ancrum. Full timetables are on the website.
In addition to single fares Borders Buses have a 24 hour ticket for their whole network which covers most most bus services in the Borders and their services to and from Edinburgh. The current price on the app is £10.70.
The Borders Railway:
The Borders Railway was reopened in 2015 between Edinburgh and Tweedbank. It was formerly part of the Waverley Route from Edinburgh to Carlisle via Galashiels and Hawick, closed in 1969. The Campaign for Borders Rail argues for the reinstatement of the whole route. However, there are obstacles to overcome where the line has been built on, for example between Tweedbank and Melrose, where the line has become the Melrose By-pass.
Our previous trip:
Ken, Ted and I spent a night in Innerleithen, further up the Tweed Valley, in 2021 calling in at Peebles en route and in Earlston and Duns on our onward journey to Berwick. The account is here The Scottish borders .
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Ken Donald for his company on the July Trip. Photographs: All photos are by Steve Gillon apart from the Borders Bus, by Robin Dickson via Flickr and the Borders Railway map which is from Wikipedia via Google Images.
Copyright: the text and all photos except for those mentioned above are Copyright © Steve Gillon, 2025
Go with Ted 