Sculpture and history along the Scottish Border’s river

THE RIVER Tweed from source to the sea, was the subject of a talk given to the Scottish Borders FWC by Debbie Playfair-Hannay recently.

It made us want to travel along this beautiful river which wends its way from seven miles north of Moffat down to the sea at Berwick, over 90 miles away.

With the help of European Regional Development Fund and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, several sculptures have been added to the existing attractions along the river. From Fly Freeman”s stone sculpture at the source, to one of the earliest suspension bridges in the world, at Berwick, there is much artwork to wake up the senses and add to an already fascinating area of outstanding natural beauty.

The sculpture by Siobhan O”Hehir in The Temple of the Muses is a celebration of poet James Thomson”s Four Seasons and Henderson Park at Coldstream has been opened up for all to enjoy the view across to England. Scott”s View between Earlston and St Boswells is a wonderful place just to sit and gaze at the landscape and the nearby Wallace Monument (right) is just amazing – he is so tall!

It is a fact of life that those who live nearby to such interesting places rarely go to visit them or just take them for granted. Perhaps Scottish Borders members had their appetites whetted for such lovely walks right on the doorstep – I know the talk made me think about organising one of our walking weekends up there. Jean Howells