Berwickshire Guide

Berwickshire was formerly one of the ancient counties of Scotland, but was abolished in 1975 during local government reorganisation. Its county town, after which it is named, had been Berwick-upon-Tweed, but the royal burgh changed hands in 1482, subsequently becoming part of the county of Northumberland, in England. Thereafter the county's administration was conducted at Duns or Lauder until Greenlaw became the county town in 1596.

Here are some facts about Berwickshire:

• When visiting Berwickshire's Ayton Castle in 1873, the writer Mark Twain fell in love with it's dining-room fireplace and insisted on buying it for himself. The fireplace now stands in the Mark Twain Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

• James Hutton, a farmer from Berwickshire, was the first man to notice that the earth's surface is continually regenerating itself, driven by heat from within.

• The Oscar winning 'Mrs Brown' based on Queen Victoria's relationship with one of her groomsmen, John Brown, starring Judy Dench and Billy Connolly, was filmed both at Duns Castle, which doubles as Balmoral and along the Berwickshire coast at Cockburnspath.

• The philosopher John Dun Scotus was born in Duns, Berwickshire. Opponents of his thinking took to calling his followers 'Dunses', from where we get the word 'dunce'. In 1991 the Vatican pronounced Scotus 'venerable' the first step on the road to sainthood.

• There is a museum dedicated to Berwickshire's former world motor-racing champion Jim Clark in the town of Duns.

• The St Abbs and Eyemouth Reserve is spread over 5 miles of the Berwickshire coast and is famous for it's unusually clear waters. Because of this, it is very popular with scuba divers.

• Britain's oldest army regiment in continual existence frequently returns to the Berwickshire town of Coldstream for ceremonial events.

• The Berwickshire Hunt is Scotland's oldest hunt that dates back to the 17th century.

• The famous newsagent's family 'John Menzies' seat was at Kames, near Duns in Berwickshire.

• Alec Douglas Home died in Berwickshire. The Hirsel in Berwickshire was the Conservative prime minister's family seat, and is where he died in 1995.

Here are just some places to visit in and around Berwickshire: