Bowmont Forest is about 5 miles south of Kelso in the Scottish Borders.
A moderate 3 mile walk through a forest. The paths can be muddy in wet weather. The forest covers about a square mile, and there are numerous walking options, with three marked trails.
Postcode for Satnav - TD5 8EA. This is for the sawmill at the entrance to the estate.
From the centre of Kelso in Scotland, take the B6352 past the Abbey and over the Tweed. Follow this road round to the Superstore roundabout, and go straight on, on the road signposted 'Ind Estate, Yetholm', follow this road for about 600 yards, then turn right onto the B6436 at the farm machinery shop. Drive along here for maybe a mile, until you see the right hand turn for Bowmont Forest. About 600 yards down here you will see a sawmill on your left, with signs for Bowmont Estate. Turn in here and follow the estate road until you see the entrance to the car park on your left.
You can see a map of the route here.
As mentioned above, there are several walking options, and the route described below is only one. Close to the end of the car park, there is a wookland path off on the right. Take this path through the trees.
In mid winter, the path was very muddy in places.
Follow this path until you come to a forestry road, then turn left and follow this road right to the far side of the forest.
If you walk right to the very edge of the forest, there is a fine view of the Cheviot hills off to the north-west.
Walking back a few yards, you find a forest road that runs in both directions just inside the forest. I chose to head uphill.
After a short distance, I took a green trackway that led deeper into the forest.
This track ran past a large clearing, then further into the forest,
before it turned left and joined a muddy roadway that led straight back to the car park.
Bowmont Forest was planted in 1816 on moorland that was once a racecourse. Horses were raced here from at least 1734, and as the racing became popular, a grandstand was built near the cottages on the northern side of the forest. The last two day meeting was held on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September 1820, then the racing moved to the present course near Kelso. Unfortunately, there is no trace of the former racecourse today.
None locally, but Kelso is close by
Tap or Click on the Icon to see a picture of each walk. Click below the picture to visit the walk page.
Comments
Bob - 1/10/2023 10.20
Used to be a lovely forest. Now caked in dog shit and people screaming for their lost dogs. Thanks for that.
Jim - 1/10/2023 21.30
Hi Bob I’d like to think that this site was so popular that it encourages hundreds of walkers to visit each walk, but sadly the numbers tell a different story. I thought the forest was clean enough last year, but muddy in places after a rainy spell.