Ettrick & Yarrow Valleys
The Ettrick and neighbouring Yarrow valleys together form one of the loveliest and quietest parts of Scotland. These valleys are unspoilt by development and are full of wildlife, winding rivers and sparkling streams.
General
A good place to find out what events are on for both children and adults and listings of local activities including walking, cycling, mountain biking and fishing, please see the Ettrick & Yarrow Valley website. This website provides details and maps of walks that literally start on your doorstep.
Learn more
The Cross Keys Inn in Ettrickbridge is the village pub offering good food and drink. Further afield another good local pub is The Gordon Arms in the Yarrow Valley offering a restaurant with rooms. The Woll in Ashkirk is as well regarded for its food as for its golf so worth a visit. The Waterwheel café at Philiphaugh and the Glen Café at St Mary’s Loch are also well worth a visit.
The historic Bowhill Estate is just a few miles down the road; both the Georgian mansion and extensive grounds are open to the public with beautiful woodland walks and an adventure playground.
The historic houses of Traquair and Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford House are also nearby as well as the elegant Borders Abbeys.
Local Towns & Villages
The nearest town is Selkirk, an historic mill town just 7 miles away that provides excellent local amenities including a deli, baker, butcher, supermarket and a selection of restaurants and takeaways.
More extensive shopping can be found at Hawick (13 miles), Melrose (14 miles), Peebles (22 miles) and Kelso (26 miles).
Image ⓒ Explore Selkirk
Activities
Over 200 years ago a humble blacksmith from Dumfriesshire, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, went into his workshop and created the “velocipede” which went on to become known as the bicycle and changed the world forever.
This heritage, combined with a widely recognised reputation as a region with outstanding scenery, world-class cycling experiences and a collective commitment to implement an ambitious and ground-breaking approach to unlocking the power of the bike, gives us in the South of Scotland the opportunity to lift our rightful crown as the global “Home of the Bike”.
Significant investment is already being made into a range of cycling-related projects and programmes locally.
This includes the development of the national Mountain Bike Innovation Centre in Innerleithen, the 250-mile Kirkpatrick C2C route, the 7Stanes network, multi-use paths across the region, and the Destination Tweed long distance trail.
Glentress Forest – the UK’s leading mountain biking destination offers a wide variety of trails and challenging downhill runs. This incredibly popular mountain biking heaven is just half an hour away. It has challenging trails for the experts, as well as easy routes for beginners. Mountain biking at Innerleithen, renowned for its four downhill trails, Innerleithen is a thrill seeker's dream. There's also an excellent red-graded cross-country trail. Both centres are part of the 7Stanes mountain biking.
For golfers, Selkirk’s 9 hole course and the New Woll Estate’18 hole golf course at Ashkirk are just down the road and the fantastic championship golf courses of Roxburghe and Cardrona are both nearby.
The area is also amazing for road biking along quiet country roads and holds many sportive throughout the year. Tweedlove bike festival for mountain and road lovers. The Ken Laidlaw event is usually in August.