The Scottish Borders are far too frequently passed through by walkers visiting Scotland who have their sights set on the more traditional and well-known hiking regions. They are missing out on a gem.
This wild stretch of countryside enjoys dramatic scenery, hill-walking, forest tracks and gentle riverside wanders, all accessible from bustling Edinburgh or one of the many charming, historic towns of the Scottish Borders such as Melrose, Jedburgh or Peebles. With a rich and turbulent history and criss-crossed with drovers tracks, old roman roads and farmers trails, this makes great territory to explore for all ages.
Children will love the many castles, abbeys, country parks and museums to explore, wildlife in abundance and plenty of family friendly routes, it is a perfect place for young families to explore and offers great versatility of activities for those with children that span larger age-groups.
Below you will find a selection of useful resources for families walking in the Scottish Borders as well as an ever expanding selection of tried and tested Baby Routes walks.
1) Walk Scottish Borders – a great starting place to search for walking routes by location. Lists details of difficulty and distance.
2) The South of Scotland Countryside Trails is a useful resource detailing a network of footpaths and bridlepaths designed for multi-use that includes the Scottish Borders. The more open nature of these trails makes them more accessible for families.
3) There are a number of long distance trails in the Scottish Borders that include good good family walking sections or why not complete the whole route as a family challenge over the course of weekends? Examples include the historics trails of St. Cuthbert’s Way , the Borders Abbeys Way and the Cross Borders Drove Road – the latter of which includes large sections suitable for cyclists, walkers, off-road pushchairs and horse-riders.
4) The Scottish Borders Councils website has a great list of downloadable guides to Easy Access Routes in the Scottish Borders, many of which are suitable for pushchairs and wheelchairs, as well as a more general walk finder.
5) The Scottish Borders is home to lots of country parks with fantastic pushchair and easy walks, adventure playgrounds and family facilities. Wildlife reserves and castle/stately home estates are also worth looking at for alternative family walks with some extra interest. You can find searchable lists of country parks and outdoors attractions here.
6) The Scottish Forestry Commission website has an excellent ‘Find a Forest’ search feature. Put in your nearest centre and a whole list of forests, the facilties and activities available at them and some graded walking route suggestions (under the ‘walking’ tab of each location) will all appear.
