The unique profile of Edinburgh was born of a marriage between nature's sculpture and man's architecture. The epicentre is Castle Rock - a volcanic plug - which constantly draws the eye from all parts of the city. Sloping down from it is a jagged outline of impossibly high medieval tenements lining the Royal Mile which is punctuated at the foot of the tail of glacial debris by Holyrood Palace. That Edinburgh is beautiful is not in doubt.It is a city blended in to the countryside, with the Firth of Forth as the northern backdrop, a necklace of hills in all other directions. The history,...

The history of Peebles spans nine centuries, so it is inevitable that there is a wealth of history in which to delve for nuggets of interest. David I of Scotland used to visit Peebles Castle in the late 1100s to hunt, the parish church of St Andrew was founded in 1195, and the town was made into a royal burgh by David II in 1367. The River Tweed did not have a bridge at Peebles until 1467, just a few years after burgh records were started during the reign of James II. In the sixteenth century, the town was surrounded by a wall with defensive bastel houses, remains of which can still be seen....