Ever been to Selkirk? If the answer is no then you well deserve Sir Walter Scott passing sentence on you in the local sheriff’s court, or the wrath even of William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace. These luminaries were both invested in this remarkable Scottish Borders town, as were everyone from the Tironesian monks through to seminal Scottish band Frightened Rabbit. Read on to see what all the fuss is about and why you should head to this truly remarkable Scottish Borders town.
1. A Real Community
There is a burning, passionate sense of community in Selkirk. One community initiative that demonstrates this to the full is the continually impressive General Store. The name doesn’t do it justice as this is a general store like no other, selling homemade items and other goods remade and recycled from scrap. A few doors away is their workshop where you can take things to get repaired, with prices kept low with takings from the General Store. A new initiative is the ‘community library’ – pay £25 for a year to hire anything from hoovers and carpet cleaners, through to lawnmowers and hedge trimmers. The community all comes together very visibly too during the impressive spectacle of the annual Common Riding.
2. A Wave of New Businesses
Market Square sports the glorious traditional bakers Camerons (their Selkirk Bannocks are insanely good!) and a real life ‘souter’, or shoemaker. This dates back to the days when Selkirk was known as ‘the Souter’s Toon’. New blood flows with the likes of top notch coffee roasters Three Hills Coffee, the Spanish-run artist-engaging Burnside Gallery and Selkirk Distillery, with their superb range of gin. I’m continually impressed how so many wee businesses thrive just a few miles from the supermarket giants of Galashiels. Take a bow Selkirk . . .
3. Great Food
The Borders are synonymous with first rate food and drink, with local produce a real highlight. On this latest visit we tucked into superb Eyemouth-landed haddock ‘n’ chips at the Cross Keys Inn in nearby Ettrickbridge, which local luminary Rory Steel has just saved from closure. Dessert was the delicious Over Langshaw Farmhouse Ice Cream. On Market Square I loved the new Tibbie’s from the Selkirk Distillers guys. As well as a wide range of gins (and a rum), they offer delicious sharing platters alive with fine meats and cheese. They cater for special nights too, with the likes of seafood platters. All Seasons Philipburn Hotel meanwhile kicked off a new proper Italian menu in January 2024, with an Italian chef brought in. The Waterwheel Café is a local favourite meanwhile on the Philiphaugh Estate, with paninis, baked potatoes and lovely homebaking.
4. Museum Magic
Selkirk oozes history. Check out the ‘Kirk o’ the Forest’, where it is said Willam Wallace was appointed the Guardian of Scotland in 1298. Sir Walter Scott’s Courtroom is a museum that marks the days when the Borders’ most famous novelist presided as the ‘Sheriff of Selkirkshire’. A short stroll away – along an ancient, narrow, cobbled alley that looks like something straight out of Outlander – lies Halliwell’s House Museum. Out of town more history and heritage await at Bowhill House and Grounds, where the main house dates back to 1812.
5. Philiphaugh Estate
This 2,000 acre Philiphaugh Estate is a joy on the edge of Selkirk. There are great walks and a range of country sports. It is also home to a salmon ladder at the Cauld. Look out too for the bijou, informative Philiphaugh Salmon Viewing Centre, where you can learn more about the remarkable migrations these impressive creatures make. Nearby, in the same building as the Waterwheel Café, is an exhibition from the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project, who have won awards for their pioneering translocation project to revive golden eagle numbers in the Scottish Borders. It has proved massively successful.
6. Go Wild Scotland
Gethin Chamberlain is the well-travelled ex foreign correspondent behind a wildlife company – Go Wild Scotland – that is so much more than a business. Community is at the heart of the wildlife experiences that he curates in search of rare red squirrels and even rarer pine martens, with golden eagles and otters on Gethin’s radar too. As well as world-class wildlife experiences to match the Highlands, Gethin is also behind Mauldsheugh Wood. This free 1km-long accessible community walking trail opens up the local flora and fauna for all, with a bird viewing station, native tree regeneration and a wildlife pond. Gethin has big plans for the woodland and Go Wild Scotland, so watch this passionate community-facing space.
7. Head to The Haining
I’m always glad to see country houses and estates pass back into community hands. This grand eighteenth century country house was bequeathed to Selkirk in 2009. The process to revamp The Haining as a community space and events venue is very much ongoing – it will be spectacular when it is finally finished. Outside a loch reclines in the surrounding woodland with a very special tree and bench. Ribbons hang from the tree, each a tribute to people lost to suicide. The bench is at the opposite end of the loch, with lovely views across the water. It is Scott’s Bench, dedicated to Selkirk lad, stellar songwriter, poet and empath the late Scott Hutchison, frontman of remarkable Selkirk band Frightened Rabbit. It is inscribed with his lyrics, stating his simple ambition to make positive ‘tiny changes’ to people’s lives. His music lives on to do this, as does the Tiny Changes mental health charity set up in his honour. The creativity continues actively too with brother Grant now drummer with Kilsyth band The Twilight Sad (who were good pals of Scott’s) and fellow bandmember Billy Kennedy recently putting out his first single as Haiver.
8. Superb Self-catering
The Scottish Borders boasts a generous sweep of world-class self-catering escapes. Handily a brace of the best are in and around Selkirk and I stayed at both on this most recent Borders adventure. Aikwood Tower is an epic 500-year old Reiver’s Tower House in the countryside: a proper castle! Play table tennis in the games room, cook back through the centuries in the old kitchen and then recline with a wee dram beside a roaring log fire like a Borders Reiver. Owner Vicki Steel looks after it brilliantly and it is so well set up for a break you will never forget staying here. The Five Turrets in Selkirk is that man Gethin Chamberlain’s work again. He has brilliantly converted this Scottish baronial pile with views, into a chic, contemporary open plan oasis that feels very Grand Designs. Inside it looks like the pages of a style magazine, but it’s cosy and welcoming too. And the views over this hill-shrouded town . . .
9. Adventures around Selkirk
Both ‘the Valleys’ (Ettrick and Yarrow) are brilliant walking, biking and horse-riding country. This time I walked between Aikwood Tower and the Cross Keys Inn and saw an otter and a deer as I snaked along the Ettrick Water en route to a delicious pub lunch. Sublime. The Southern Upland Way and Borders Abbeys Way rumble through nearby too, as does the new Kirkpatrick C2C long distance cycling trail.
Further Information
This post comes in conjunction with Scotland Starts Here. All views and impressions of places expressed are entirely our own.