BERWICK AND THE BORDERS
On a winter morning by the Tweed, every umbel of hogweed, every bristly head of burdock stands crisply outlined in frost. Avenues of poplars reflect perfectly in the water and the “Tweed’s fair river, broad and deep” lives up to the poetry of Sir Walter Scott. For a region with a violent past, today is tranquil and full of natural beauty, a place to experience in its winter skin.
The journey of discovery can start at , one of the most important fortified towns of Europe. With its strategic position at the mouth of the river, Berwick was frequently fought over by England and Scotland. Changing hands 13 times, the town finally became English in 1482. You can walk the whole circuit of the Elizabethan ramparts and look giddily down on to the arrow-shaped bastions, grasstopped, jutting out, their huge earthen banks built to absorb the impact of cannon fire. Narrow gates in
