Forest bathing at Cardrona Forest

Cardrona is a large forest on the south side of the Tweed Valley, about three and a half miles east of Peebles, looking across the river towards Glentress. The trails run through spruce, larch and pine, and red squirrels live here. The ruin of Cardrona Tower, built in the 1500s and now a bat roost, stands in the woods, and on Castle Knowe the ramparts of an Iron Age fort are thought to be about 2,500 years old.

The car park is on the B7062, just west of Cardrona village. The short Burn Trail runs beside the Kirk Burn under spruce and larch, a good place to stop and listen to the water. The Pen View and Fergus's trails climb on firm gravel with long moderate slopes, past the tower and up to views of Lee Pen and the Tweed Valley, and the Pikes Knowe Trail goes on to the hill fort. Timber lorries use the forest roads on weekdays when felling is under way; a map at the car park shows where.