Priorwood Garden

May 20, 1999.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Sproingy bushes and a lovely walled garden next to Melrose Abbey

Scott’s View

May 20, 1999.Reading time 1 minute.

The view from this hill, overlooking the Eildon Hills and Trimontium is beautiful. One of the guidebooks had an engraving of the view from the 1800s, and it is virtually unchanged from the view today, even down to the plowed field.

Dryburgh Abbey

May 20, 1999.Reading time less than 1 minute.

This beautiful Premonstratensian abbey on the banks of the Tweed is set in a lovely garden with large trees and grassy expanses among the ruins.

Melrose Abbey

May 20, 1999.Reading time less than 1 minute.

A mostly-ruined Cistercian abbey in Melrose, founded in the 12th century, it is one of my favorite ruins in all of Scotland

Jedburgh Abbey

May 20, 1999.Reading time less than 1 minute.

A 12th century Augustinian Abbey in the largest town between Edinburgh and England

Torthorwald Tower

May 21, 1999.Reading time 1 minute.

A small, crumbling tower in a farmer’s field, from the 14th century

Sanquhar

May 21, 1999.Reading time 4 minutes.

A lovely, tree-filled ruin near Sanquhar, along the Southern Upland Way

Hermitage

May 21, 1999.Reading time 3 minutes.

Four towers, connected with walls, make this fortress an impregnable cube of stone

Caerlaverock

May 21, 1999.Reading time 9 minutes.

My favorite castle in Scotland — a triangular, multi-towered ruin with not one, but two moats!

Sweetheart Abbey

May 21, 1999.Reading time less than 1 minute.

If there is a more picturesque abbey in Scotland, I don’t know what it is. Sweetheart abbey is a fabulous ruin set in a grassy churchyard that is almost too green to be real