Kirk Yetholm - village in Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK

Kirk Yetholm is a village in the Scottish Borders, best known as the northern terminus of the 268-mile Pennine Way. Kirk Yetholm is the east side of this straggly settlement; the larger part west of the river is Town Yetholm.

Get in

You need a car or bike. Borders Bus 81 runs between Kelso and Town and Kirk Yetholm 3 or 4 times a day M-Sat, nothing on Sunday.

Get around

See

• The Gypsy Memorial, 55.547164°, -2.275285°. The village was the headquarters of the Scottish Gypsies. 2016-12-30
• Morebattle 📍 is an attractive small village to the west: it was rebuilt in the 1750s in a pleasant unity of style. No battle was fought here, the name indicates "mere-abode", a dwelling place by a lake, which has been drained for farmland. However someone expected trouble, as the hill just south is an Iron Age D-shaped hillfort. A smaller one nearby has been damaged by quarrying and farming. See Jedburgh for Cessford Castle further west, a medieval stump.

Do

• The Pennine Way is a 268-mile trail from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm. Its northernmost stage, from Byrness in Northumberland, is 27 miles along the ridge of the Cheviots, with no habitation or road access along the way. It can be done in one long day, or you can bivvy at the two refuge huts (bothies) along the way, or you can break it into three there-and-back walks from the valleys. OS Landranger Map 80 covers all of this stage except the last couple of miles, on Map 74. The path climbs steeply from Byrness through forest then heads north along an open ridge to enter Scotland near Ogre Hill. It now follows the border fence, switching between England and Scotland, past the Roman fort at Chew Green and Roman "Dere Street". It comes onto the exposed ridge climbing to the well-named Windy Gyle (619 m, 2031 ft) and Cairn Hill (743 m, 2438 ft). A side path branches east to the summit of The Cheviot (815 m, 2674 ft), adding two miles there & back to the 27, with a flagstone path across the boggy plateau. But the main path turns sharply northwest, following the border fence down past a refuge hut, climbing The Schil (601 m, 1972 ft) then descending into gentler countryside, to end at the Border Hotel in Kirk Yetholm.
• St Cuthbert's Way is a 62-mile trail from Melrose Abbey, where the saint spent much of his life, east via St Boswells and Maxton to Kirk Yetholm, meeting the Pennine Way. Continuing east it crosses into Northumberland in England and runs down to the coast and by tidal footpath to Lindisfarne. It's all lowland in nature.
• Border Loop Cycle Route & Sustrans route 84 pass this way.

Buy

• Yetholm village shop is a convenience store on Town Yetholm High St, open M-Sa 07:00-18:00, Su 09:00-16:00.

Eat

• Bar meals at Border Hotel, see "Sleep".

Drink

• You've earned one at the Border Hotel (see "Sleep") if you've completed the Pennine Way.

Sleep

• Border Hotel, The Green, Kirk Yetholm TD5 8PQ, 55.5476°, -2.2747°, +44 1573 420237, info@borderhotel.co.uk. Friendly comfy 3-star, roaring fire in the pub, good food. B&B double £100 2022-04-29
• B&B: Mill House is on Dow Brae in Kirk Yetholm.
• Kirkfield Caravan Park, Grafton Rd, Town Yetholm TD5 8SA, +44 1573 420346. Clean well-run site open April-Oct with hard standing and camping pitches. Dogs welcome. Small tent £10, hook-up £23.50 2022-04-29
• Plough Hotel, Main St, Town Yetholm TD5 8PF, +44 1573 420215. Simple welcoming small hotel, dog-friendly. B&B double £95 2022-04-29
• Friends of Nature House, Waukford TD5 8PG (B6352 quarter-mile north of Town Yetholm), 55.5479°, -2.2772°, +44 1573 420639. Check-in: 17:00-23:00, check-out: 10:00. 22 bed hostel affiliated to the SYHA, open March-Nov. In former village school. 2019-01-22

Connect

As of April 2022, the village has a patchy mobile signal from Three and Vodafone. There's no coverage in the hills along the Pennine Way. 5G has not reached this area.

Go next

A bike ride would get you to Kelso, Jedburgh, Coldstream, Berwick-upon-Tweed or Wooller.