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The town of Melrose was originally a tiny village by the name of Fordel.

"Melrose, birthplace of the game of rugby sevens and still very much a strong rugby playing town, lies in the Tweed valley at the foot of the distinctive triple peaks of the Eildon Hills. Melrose's ruined abbey was founded by David I in 1136, at one time probably the richest in Scotland, and is the burial place of the casket believed to contain the heart of Scotland's King, Robert the Bruce. The abbey is also the starting point for St. Cuthbert's Way, a 62-mile (100km) cross border walking route towards Lindisfarne…"

At one time almost all the Borders towns and villages were linked by train services (with Melrose station opening 1849) but those days have long gone. Melrose however still retains its splendid Victorian station which has now been converted to a fine restaurant, of which Melrose has many.

"Just along the road at St Boswells is Dryburgh Abbey, whose ruins are still remarkably complete, …the final resting place of Field Marshall Earl Haig and Sir Walter Scott. [Nearby there is also] a 22-foot high sandstone statue of 'Braveheart' himself, William Wallace, at the end of a woodland walk. Abbotsford, three miles west of Melrose, was Sir Walter Scott's home for 20 years."