Destination Tweed UK, Old Melrose Dairy Steading, Melrose (2026)

10/08/2026

🚶‍♀️🚴‍♂️ Exciting progress is being made on the River Tweed Trail in the Upper Tweed, bringing us another step closer to welcoming visitors in 2028!

✅ 2.3km of upgraded path completed between the Dumfries & Galloway border and the Scottish Borders, from the source of the Tweed. Despite challenging boggy ground, the team has created a durable, well-drained route designed to sit naturally within the landscape.

✅ 2.2km of improved route delivered between the Crook Inn, Tweedsmuir and Patervan, delivering improved safety, accessibility, and flow to the route.

✅ In Peebles, work was recently completed on the route between Priorsford Footbridge and Eddleston Water Bridge. Shaped by community feedback, these new paths have been enhanced with native tree planting and wildflower habitats, while plans are progressing for the next section onwards to Fotheringham Footbridge.

This adds to previous work in Peebles including improved links between Glentress and Peebles via Eshiels Tunnel, installing a new controlled crossing at the A72 and constructing a new path between Priorsford Bridge and Gytes Leisure Centre.

These enhancements provide a safer route to school and improved all-abilities access across a key section of the River Tweed Trail where the benefits are already being felt by walkers, wheelers and cyclists in the local community.

Alongside route development, work is continuing on interpretation and wayfinding, helping create a trail that is accessible, inspiring and memorable for future visitors.

Please note, the River Tweed Trail will not be fully complete or walkable with signage, interpretation and enhanced route sections until 2028.

We're proud of the progress so far and look forward to sharing more updates as work continues! 🌊

✨ Keep up with the latest Trail updates and developments by joining our mailing list - http://eepurl.com/jaSGS2.

Delivery of the River Tweed Trail is led by Scottish Borders Council, in partnership with Tweed Forum, Northumberland County Council and Dumfries and Galloway Council.

The River Tweed Trail was made possible by funding from Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Community Regeneration Partnership, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust Scotland, South of Scotland Enterprise and The National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland.

07/08/2026

✨ Friday Feature – Tweed River Festival returns for 2026! 🌊

Connecting Threads: Tweed River Culture is thrilled to announce the second Tweed River Festival, a vibrant two-day celebration of the River Tweed taking place in October across Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

This year's festival theme, "Under, Over, Round and Through," invites us to explore our relationships with the river, the landscape, and each other through an inspiring programme of creativity, culture and connection. 🪡

🌊 From riverside listening walks and film screenings to hands-on workshops, performances and a community parade, the festival celebrates the many ways we live with, care for and are inspired by the River Tweed.

Celebrating local heritage and exploring environmental futures, the festival brings together artists, communities, conservationists and river lovers to share stories, knowledge and inspiration.

🎨 Connecting Threads’ artists in residence for 2026, Rebecca Beinart and Savinder Bual, will also be sharing their residency research, work, and process at the festival. Rebecca and Savinder work across art forms and disciplines including film, textiles, gatherings, sound, sculpture, installation, and socially engaged practice.

Join us in Melrose as we continue our journey downriver, following last year's festival in Peebles, and looking ahead to the final festival in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 2027.

Full programme coming soon 👀

Visit https://www.tweedriverculture.org/journal/tweed-river-festival-2026-under-over-round-through for more information on the festival 💙

📷 Pictorial Photography and Create Berwick.

06/08/2026

Did you know that Berwick-upon-Tweed has changed hands between Scotland and England probably more times than any other town in Britain? 🤔

For centuries, Berwick-upon-Tweed was the ultimate border town. Its strategic location, prosperous port and position on the River Tweed made it a tactical advantage if it could be got for long enough!

👑 After the Battle of Carham in 1018, Berwick became part of the Kingdom of Scotland, marking the beginning of centuries of dispute over its ownership and helping to establish the River Tweed as a key part of Scotland’s eastern border. The town would go back and forth throughout the 12th to 15th Centuries before finally being captured by the future Richard III during his invasion of Scotland in 1482. The town has remained English ever since.

The final number is disputed but Berwick changed hands at least 13 or 14 times!

Every siege, treaty and change of allegiance left its mark on the streets, buildings and people. Through time, Berwick has been transformed by these events from a disputed border stronghold into the unique historic town visitors see today. 🌊

What's you favourite story about Berwick? Let us know in the comments 👇

03/08/2026

🌟 Making the most of the River Tweed Trail!

With the River Tweed Trail set to welcome walkers, cyclists and active travellers from 2028, now is the perfect time to explore how your business, organisation or new venture can benefit.

Our Tourism Business Engagement Officer, Neen Kelly, is hosting a free workshop focussing on how local businesses and communities can benefit and what the Trail could mean for Coldstream, Cornhill-on-Tweed and the surrounding area.

📅 Thursday 22 October 2026
🕜 1.30pm to 5pm
📍 Coldstream Community Centre

Join this free practical workshop to discover how you can:
✅ Attract more visitors
✅ Create bookable experiences and services
✅ Encourage visitors to stay longer and spend locally

Whether you're an established business, community group or budding entrepreneur, there's something for everyone.

🎟️ Places are limited, so book early to secure your spot!
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-the-most-of-the-river-tweed-trail-tickets-1994011474999?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

31/07/2026

✨ Friday Feature – A Day in Archaeology ⛏

This , we're celebrating Uncovering the Tweed, the community archaeology project delivered by AOC Archaeology Group as part of Destination Tweed. From prehistoric settlements and medieval sites to historic river crossings and industrial heritage, the project is exploring centuries of human activity across the Tweed catchment.

What makes the project special is its community focus. Local volunteers are working alongside professional archaeologists, learning new skills, taking part in fieldwork and helping shape the project's direction. 🤝

So far, we have uncovered the story of:

⛰ Adie’s Brae near Moffat, where evidence of an Iron Age settlement and cremated remains has helped us to learn more about the lives of people who called this area home thousands of years ago.

📍the Tweed landscape through LiDAR mapping and geophysical surveys to produce resources that will be invaluable to the presentation of the region’s archaeology.

🏰 tower houses which sit along the River Tweed, surveying, recording and investigating these iconic structures and their architectural development over time.

🌊 Fairnilee, a mysterious moated site on the banks of the Tweed not previously recorded in the archives and excavated for the first time as part of this project!

⚙ the Innerleithen Mill Lade, supporting Innerleithen Community Trust to survey and record the historic mill lade, exploring the story of the Tweed’s industrial past and the communities it powered.

AOC have also worked with nearly 500 children and young people who have taken part in activities both in the classroom and on site!

👏 A huge thank you to everyone who's spent a day (or many days!) in archaeology with us. Your time, enthusiasm and discoveries are helping uncover the Tweed's hidden history. More to come!

💬 Have you taken part in an Uncovering the Tweed event, excavation or workshop? We'd love to hear about your experience in the comments!

📸 1. St Cuthbert’s Church survey. 2. Adie’s Brae excavation. 3. Lithics workshop at Paxton. 4. Fairnilee excavation. 5. LiDAR of Eildon North. 6. School visits to Adie’s Brae excavation. 7. Geophysical survey work at Lyne Fort. Credit: CMP. 8. Innerleithen Mill Lade Sluice Gate.

30/07/2026

Our Tweed Stories archive is full of tales about Summer on the water. 🌊

From remembering childhood holidays splashing in the water to walks through riverside towns and villages discovering hidden history, spotting wildlife along the banks, and making the most of the sometimes drizzly summer weather!

Read our stories here: https://destinationtweed.org/stories/ ✨

📸 The River Tweed through Yair. Credit: Airborne Lens.

28/07/2026

Sharing a Tweed Moment 📸

Peeking through a colourful patch of budding flowers is the Coldstream Bridge. Sitting over a peaceful Tweed, we can’t help but think of all of the people who have crossed this bridge idling over from Scotland to England and back again. The arches give perfect windows onto the river beyond creating a picturesque scene even on a dull day. 🌊🌸

Have you enjoyed a peaceful moment of reflection along the river lately? Share your with us 📸

24/07/2026

✨Friday Feature – 100 Stories and Counting! 🎉

We've reached an incredible milestone for Tweed Stories – more than 100 stories have now been shared by people with a connection to the River Tweed. 💙

The growing archive is becoming a remarkable celebration of the people, places and landscapes that make the Tweed so special.

📖 So far, we've uncovered tales of legendary fairies and spirits at Tweedie Castle, memories of cross-border ball games between Coldstream and Wark, the story behind Moffat's earless ram sculpture, oral history interviews recalling riverside traditions and childhood adventures on the water, and even the fascinating history of the now-extinct Tweed Water Spaniel, which helped give rise to the Golden Retriever.

But this is only the beginning.

Every story shared helps preserve the Tweed's heritage for future generations and will help shape interpretation and digital content for the future River Tweed Trail, launching in 2028.

We're especially keen to hear from:

🌿 People who work on the land or water around the Tweed
🎒 Children and young people
🏘️ Community groups with a story to share

You can contribute online, attend one of our upcoming story-gathering events, or drop your story into one of our Tweed Stories post boxes across the Tweed catchment.

Here's to the next 100 stories! ✨

📚 Explore the archive and share your own story at https://destinationtweed.org/share-your-story/

📸 Images from engagement events in Innerleithen and Elsdon, Northumberland, sharing stories, poetry and memories of the river. Credit: Tweed Stories / Airborne Lens.

22/07/2026

The story of the Tweed isn't just about a river, it's about the people whose lives have been woven around it. 🌊

Since the end of last year, our Tweed Stories team has been out and about helping people write their story, recording oral histories and uncovering incredible stories connected to the River Tweed. With so many wonderful stories shared, picking favourites was almost impossible - but here are a few that have particularly captured their imagination.

🌕 Jo has been blown away by the variety of stories but, if she has to choose, loves Simon Etheridge's Conjunction, a tale of planets aligning while swallows and bats skim over the tranquil lower Tweed during the summer solstice - a unique perspective of the river and its significance.

👉 https://destinationtweed.org/story/conjunction/

🫧 Oral historian Harry's favourite Tweed Story is Maurice Kukk's Soap and Water. Maurice recalls bathing, washing and collecting fish from flood pools in the 1950s but his memories could well be from the 1350s! For Harry, the story perfectly captures the Tweed's role in linking landscapes, communities and traditions through time.

👉 https://destinationtweed.org/story/soap-and-water/

🎨 Sally’s pick is Anita Holbrow’s story talking about visiting the Lowry exhibition in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Sally says it strikes a chord with a similar visit to my own to the same exhibition and makes me think of shared experiences and the pleasure at being able to see such gems in our wee corner of the country.

👉 https://destinationtweed.org/story/lowry-and-the-sea/

🌊 Photographer Chris recently started volunteering to take part in riverfly surveys gaining a new appreciation for the biodiversity hidden beneath the Tweed's surface. For this reason, Catriona Waddington's story about the work done by her father and others in the 1950s as part of the Tweed River Purification Board is a favourite. It highlights generations of people caring for the river as a living, breathing ecosystem.

👉 https://destinationtweed.org/story/pioneering-river-protection-work-in-the-1950s/

Which Tweed Story is your favourite? Explore the archive and discover inspiring stories from across the catchment at https://destinationtweed.org/stories/ 📖✨

20/07/2026

What’s your Tweed story? 🌊💙

The River Tweed is a living river. It has many stories to tell.

That's the idea behind our Tweed Stories project, part of the Destination Tweed initiative.

We’re creating a community archive filled with stories from people who know and love the River Tweed. Our archive celebrates the river's rich heritage, nature and culture, and memorable moments in the lives of people who live, work and visit here. Many of these stories will help inspire interpretation along the future River Tweed Trail, launching in 2028.

Our archive is already filling with wonderful memories – paddleboarding adventures, reflections on life by the river, favourite fishing spots, and the special moments that make the Tweed unforgettable.

Whether your connection to the Tweed is lifelong or recent, your story matters.

📍 What’s your favourite place on the Tweed?

💭 What memory instantly comes to mind when you think of the river?

👇 Share your story in the comments below, big or small, and add your voice to the River Tweed’s story. 💙🌊

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