Kelso Civic Week and Kelso Laddies
Kelso's civic week is anchored by the Kelso Laddie leading a mounted cavalcade to Yetholm and back, reviving the ancient custom of riding the burgh marches in the heart of the Tweed valley.
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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"Lauder's Common Riding is one of the most intimate of the Borders festivals, with a mounted Cornet leading riders along the ancient marches of this small market town on the edge of the Lammermuir Hills."
Lauder Common Riding
"Coldstream's civic week climaxes with the Coldstreamer leading a mounted rideout to Flodden Field, honouring the Borderers who fell in the 1513 battle in one of the most moving riding ceremonies in Scotland."
Coldstream Civic Week
"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
"A man encased head to toe in sticky burrs walks the town for nine hours, a fertility custom of unknown but ancient origin."
Burryman's Parade
"One of Scotland's oldest music festivals brings Gaelic nights, ceilidhs, pipe bands and distillery tours to a remote Kintyre town at the road's very end."
Mull of Kintyre Music Festival
"One of Scotland's most distinctive gatherings, the Lonach sees kilted clansmen march twelve miles carrying pikes before the Highland Games begin at Bellabeg in the upper Don valley."
Lonach Highland and Friendly Society Gathering
"Four days of traditional music on an Hebridean island reachable only by ferry, workshops, open sessions, ceilidhs in the island hall, and the Atlantic on all four sides."
Ceol Cholasa: Colonsay Folk Festival
Villagly Award · Hardest to Reach"Three days in a Black Isle village near Inverness where the sessions run late and the Moray Firth catches the September light outside, a small Highland folk festival doing exactly what it promised."
Ardersier Folk Festival
"On a remote Hebridean island of more deer than people, a village hall and marquee fill with trad sessions, ceilidhs, step dancing and a samba procession."
Jura Music Festival