3 Best Sights in The Borders and the Southwest, Scotland

Standing uncompromisingly on top of a barren, rocky ridge in the hills south of Mellerstain, this 16th-century peel tower, characteristic of the Borders, was built solely for defense, and its unadorned stones contrast with the luxury of Mellerstain House. If you let your imagination wander at this windy spot, you can almost see the rising dust of an advancing raiding party. Sir Walter Scott found this spot inspiring, and he visited the tower often during his childhood. Anne Carrick's tableaux in the tower illustrate some of Scott's Borders ballads, and the ticket includes an audio tour of the building.

Poet Robert Burns spent quite a lot of time at the Globe Inn, where he frequently fell asleep in the tack room beside the stables; today it's still an active pub where you can eat and drink. Burns later graduated to the upstairs bedroom where he slept with Anna Park, and scratched some lines of poetry on the window. The room is preserved (or at least partly re-created), and there are now organized tours of the room that leave from the pub three times a day, Tuesday through Saturday. Just beware, if you choose to sit in Burns's chair in the bar, tradition has it that you have to buy a round for the whole pub.

The historic courtroom where Sir Walter Scott presided as sheriff from 1804 to 1832 contains a display examining his life, writings, and time on the bench. It uses models to re-create the atmosphere of a 19th-century Scottish court and includes an audiovisual presentation. A statue of the famous writer overlooks the comings and goings outside the court.