Border Union Show
Kelso Racecourse in late July, where the cattle are Scots and the sheep are Border and the judges have opinions, the great show of the eastern Border country, with the Tweed just over the fence.
A handsome, historically rich Borders market town with a genuinely thriving independent food scene, a nationally recognised pub, a long-running farmers market, and the ruins of one of Scotland's great abbeys on its doorstep, making it considerably more than a pretty face.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near Kelso, Scottish Borders.
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"The sport's ultimate contest held only every three years in the region widely considered the birthplace of the Border Collie, where handlers from across the world gather at Huntington Farm for five extraordinary days."
World Sheepdog Trials
"Twice a year the entire town of Jedburgh divides into Uppies and Doonies to contest a football match with no fixed rules, no referee and no pitch boundaries through the streets and closes of the town, a tradition said to derive from the use of an English soldier's head after a medieval border battle."
Jedburgh Ba' Game
✦ Weird and Wonderful"Cornet and mounted supporters ride the marches to drum and fife, commemorating a 1514 skirmish."
Hawick Common Riding
"Hundreds of riders follow the standard bearer round the burgh boundaries in the oldest of the Borders common ridings."
Selkirk Common Riding
"One of the Scottish Borders' best-loved civic weeks, the Melrose Festival culminates in a horseback rideout through the shadow of the Eildon Hills and the crowning and installation of the Festival Queen on the Thursday."
Melrose Festival
"A week of riding the marches, crowning of the Beltane Queen and pageantry in this Tweed valley town."
Peebles Beltane Festival
"The Royal Deeside market town of Banchory hosts its agricultural show each August at the gateway to the Cairngorms, where Aberdeenshire beef and Highland cattle are judged against a backdrop of the Forest of Birse and the River Dee shining in the valley below."
Banchory Show
"Market Park in the town that was once the largest cattle market in Scotland and the southern end of the drove roads from the Highlands hosts its gathering each August, where the Knock hill rises above the ground and the games feel rooted in a landscape that shaped the character of the entire Highland cattle trade."
Crieff Highland Gathering
"The Haugh at Forter in remote Glenisla holds its games in a glen where the only road is single track, the mobile phone signal is unreliable and the audience has come from the farms and shooting estates of Angus rather than from any tourist trail, making it one of the most authentic Highland gatherings anywhere."
Glenisla Highland Games
"Blairbeg Park in Drumnadrochit holds its games with Loch Ness stretching south toward the Great Glen and Urquhart Castle ruins visible from the throwing circle, a combination of Highland athletics and legendary scenery that no other games ground in Scotland can match."
Glenurquhart Highland Games
"Set at Inverlochy Castle Farm in the shadow of Ben Nevis, this West Highland agricultural show and family fun day celebrates the farming traditions of Lochaber with livestock and countryside displays."
Lochaber Agricultural Show
"The March of the Lonach Highlanders, kilted men with pikes walking the glen, precedes a day of games at Strathdon."
Lonach Highland Gathering