Rosetta Holiday Park

One of the many highlights of the Scottish Borders is that, while the region is rightly popular with savvy holidaymakers, it remains off the mass tourist track so you can gleefully pursue your pastimes without areas becoming overcrowded.

Fishing is one of the most popular pursuits in the area is because of Peebles’s proximity to the River Tweed, on the top scale of salmon fishing rivers in the world. Go out on your own with your rod license or bag a trip/course from one of the many local angling centres nearby; the Tweed and its tributaries yield wild trout and grayling too. Elsewhere in the area, anglers have acres of lochs for coarse fishing and the Berwickshire coast nearby for sea angling – and views – off Eyemouth, Burmouth and St Abbs.

The mountain bike trails of Glentress Forest three miles away is another big draw for active visitors – the Tweed Bike Festival is held here in May and June and Glentress/Innerleithen are part of the world famous 7stanes mountain biking trails. The award-winning centre at Glentress has trails of all grades and a most modern visitor centre with bike wash, bike hire and a bike shop.

The Tweed Love Bike Festival is held at Peebles in early summer, but if you miss it/aren’t a mountain biker, several other festivals cover several other tastes such as arts, jazz, food (nom), Highlands Games, the Rugby Sevens and the traditional week-long Beltane Festival. Dramatic highlights like shows at the Eastgate can be had at any time of the year, as can sampling fresh local produce in the town’s hotels and restaurants (nom again), park and river walks by the Tweed and the prerequisite till-ringing at the Old Town and School Brae.

As well as Peebles, the Borders has plenty of other characterful towns to seek out such as Selkirk, Jedburgh, Galashiels and the Borders’s biggest town Hawick; those looking for even brighter lights can make their way to Edinburgh, just 20 miles away.