Newcastleton is a village located 22 miles south of Hawick. This circular town trail covers generally good paths passing the lands of Whithaugh, owned by the Armstrong family in the reiving days.
The trail crosses the bridge over the former railway line. This was the famous Waverley Line from Edinburgh to Carlisle; Newcastleton Station opened on 1 March 1862 and for much of the ensuing century it was possible to travel directly to London from here. The line closed, very much against local wishes, in January 1969.
There are lovely wild flowers in spring including bluebells, and the summer birds include woodpeckers.
To continue the full walk, cross two bridges and continue along the edge of the wood to the Bull Park, enclosed on the far side by a stone wall. Here the villagers used to keep a bull beside the common grazing land on Holm Hill.
You can walk down the road back to the village, or turn right up the hill to Holmhill Cottages, originally built as an isolation hospital. It was built in 1906 because infectious diseases were rife at the time, but was relatively little used and closed in 1930. Cottage no 3 incorporates the hospital’s former washhouse and mortuary