Hidden gems in the Scottish borders, a cycling tour with a difference

by Christine Collin (one of our trustees)

In 2023 we packed two small panniers each for a 12-day trip to explore the Cheviots and the Scottish gardens in the borders by bike. Starting in Riding Mill Northumberland, accessible by train, our first day was spent traversing the Cheviots. We treated ourselves to the most expensive coffee of the trip at Matfen Hall, a luxury hotel now, with golf club and other leisure facilities. My links with it go back to the ’70s, when it was a Cheshire Home, used for the “young chronic sick” and I was the newly qualified visiting physician.

Our route took us past Bolam Lake to Rothbury, then along minor roads and tracks to our B&B in Ingram, a most beautiful small village near Alnwick. The routes over the largely unpopulated Cheviots were quiet, beautiful, and yes included a few climbs, which got easier as the day progressed.

The following day we mostly followed the Pennine Cycleway up to Kelso, through beautiful rolling countryside, including interesting market towns like Wooler. We began our garden experiences in Kelso the next day, visiting Floors Castle gardens, viewed the impressive but simple Millennium garden, and then back on the bikes to Mellerstain Estate gardens, designed in the eighteenth century and embellished more recently with Italianate terraces and a distant lake at the bottom of an impressively steep slope that had a large shed perched precariously on it. Contrasting with the numbers of staff at Floors, the gardens here were managed by one head gardener working three days per week and a team of volunteers.

On day three, we stopped briefly in Melrose for morning coffee, then the soft Scottish rain began. We donned our wet gear, then stopped in a bus stop to add another layer, sadly my Nikwax reproofing treatment had not worked. We were going due west, using B roads south of the river. At one point I saw a man photographing a puddle, and discovered he was a photographer from the Scottish Post, Phil Wilkinson, and admiring our brightly coloured waterproofs, he took photos of us in the rain, for a future Scottish Tourism article, maybe.

En route we visited Kailzie gardens, just in time for tea and apple pie at the café. The garden cafes were one of the great bonuses of this tour. In Kailzie, a walled garden and hedges were used to create garden rooms and views of the borrowed landscape, it was wonderful, but too late to tarry in the extensive woodlands , and we cycled on to Peebles.

The next day was great on all counts, a quiet B road led us to Dawyck garden which was exceptional; giant sequoias, huge Douglas firs, blue poppies, orchids, and the bonus of lovely cinnamon scones to fuel our ride to Sanquhar. The final stretch on the B740 was remote, followed a stream then Crawick Water, a beautiful and wild valley, embellished by the oyster catchers, a curlew and fields of sheep and lambs. The Black Addie Hotel gave us a good supper and a great breakfast.

We were blessed with continuous sunshine the next day as we cycled the 49 miles to Bangrennon via  New Cumnock which had a Greek café, offering us Greek delicacies, a Baclava and orange cake ladened with honey, and then another break at Straiton. The B-road then wound over wilderness moors with several climbs. We went though self-sustaining communities in an area designated a Biosphere territory, and saw an adder sunning itself on a warm pavement in the evening sun.

On day seven we made it to the west coast at Portpatrick and enjoyed superb sea views from the Fernhill Hotel and a full-sized bath! En route we visited Castle Kennedy Gardens, huge woodlands, enormous circular lake stuffed with lilies and an impressive walled garden, before we tackled the scones in the café. I noted hares and a red squirrel near the gardens, and more oystercatchers.

Logan Botanical Gardens were our next port of call and I think for me were the gold medal winners of this trip. We saw gardens there from North and South America, the antipodes and in between. We could have spent the whole day here, barely getting beyond a detailed meander around the walled garden, but were meeting friends further south at the very tip of the Mull of Galloway.  

Day nine was exceedingly wet, we toiled up the 11% gradient to Glenwhan Gardens, noted for its tender plants and water features, had a lovely chat with the 83 yr old owner, who had called in the café to let the staff go early if no punters, before we loitered in the café for 2 coffees each plus cakes, watching the rain. She had sadly been banned by her husband from riding her e bike because she had fallen off it. He bought her an e trike but she did not like it, different handling skills required. We decided it was not the day for water gardens and moved on. We warmed up a little on the “up and over” roads to Newton Stewart, but were still soaked on arrival and had soup and hot drinks in a café before finding our lodgings.

The gardens were all wonderful, there were others we did not have time to visit, thinking another garden tour could be in the making. We cycled back to Riding Mill with overnight stays in Dumfries and Irthington, the landscape generally flattening out for the final day when we were rewarded by more sightings of hares, quite majestic creatures, and that feeling of returning from the wilds to the gentler softness of Northumberland.

The routes were planned using the app Just Go Ride, that allows editing of the routes, and we avoided A roads most of the time, not always possible in Scotland, favouring the B roads, bike routes and trails. We occasionally had to walk rough sections, and our distances varied from over 50 miles to under 30. We rode our touring bikes, mine a 22 year old Roberts, a real steel stallion, and Jack’s a Spa titanium. I have the lowest gears possible to get me up the hills. I chose these gardens because they were closest to the route we wanted and had time for, and they offered a wide range of garden delights.