The Duchesse's Drive at Bowhill

We had intended to go to Silloth for todays walk but last night we looked at the weather forecast and decided to head east as the forecast for Selkirk was much better. This proved to be an excellent decision as the weather was excellent and for about an hour we even had sunshine. We started our walk which is a 7.5 mile circuit starting at Bowhill the Borders home of the Duke of Buccleuch. This is the road through the wood at the start of the walk.

This is a stone seat engraved BQ for Buccleuch & Queensbury

Once we gain a bit of height we get one of the best views of the Eildons in the distance.  

One of the many Grouse Butts on the hillside. This is a working Grouse Moor and I am delighted to say that most of the Grouse from this moor is sold by Buccleuch to Marks & Spencer as a direct result of the sponsorship of Langholm's "Making the Most of the Moorland Project". This is because last year M & S had to stop selling wild Grouse in its food shops as people mostly in Yorkshire protested because of the persecution of The Hen Harrier in the Yorkshire Grouse Moors. By supporting our project they can now be seen to be supporting methods to help Hen Harriers and therefore becoming ethical in their product.  

In the distance we can see that Forestry is harvested just like many agricultural commodities. This is a perfect example of how great swarths of forest are cleared.

This is Newark Castle built by the Douglas family in 1423 and eventually gifted to the Scott family. 

The Tower

As we were standing at Newark Castle two of these came over very low and very quiet and I just managed to get my camera in focus for the second one.

One of the many log piles waiting for the timber wagons to take them away

The gates to Bowhill House. We ended up with a snack at Philiphaugh Estate cafe and by the time we were on our way home to Langholm the rain started with a vengeance so we had been very lucky.