Amidst a wide expanse of gentle green sits Acreknowe Reservoir. The loch, formerly Greenside Bog, was constructed in the early 1880s, accompanying waterworks newly established to supply drinking water to Hawick. When construction was completed, in 1882, the Cornet led a mile-and-a-half-long procession out of Hawick to visit Acreknowe. Since then, tradition dictates that on the Friday of the Common Riding the Cornet and his mounted cavalcade gallop single-file either side of the reservoir; the Cornet traversing the side closest to Hawick, his followers branching whichever way they choose. When the summer sun of a bonnie Common Riding catches the water glittering, and the emerald banks of Acreknowe teem with the thunder of hooves, the Friday procession is a most stirring sight to see.