Kippie Hill

Kippie Hill rises up from the gentle rolling landscape of the Scottish Borders like someone's casually shrugged their shoulders and the earth has heaved upward. It's not a dramatic peak - nothing that'll make your legs regret the journey halfway up - but it's the sort of walk that rewards you properly.

The climb takes about an hour from Coldstream, depending on your pace and how many times you stop to look back at the Tweed Valley sprawling behind you. On a clear day the views stretch across green fields stitched together by stone walls, with the Southern Uplands rising away to the south. It's the kind of outlook that reminds you why people bothered to make homes in this corner of Scotland in the first place.

This is walker's terrain, mainly. The path isn't technical and kids who've done a few hills before will manage it without fuss, though younger ones might find the steady gradient a bit monotonous. History enthusiasts will appreciate standing on a border hill - you're right on the edge of things here, which mattered quite a lot once.

Go midweek if you can. Weekends bring folk from Edinburgh making the drive out to Coldstream Holiday Park and beyond, and the last thing you want is queuing for elbow room on a hillside. Early morning in summer light is your sweet spot - the sun catches the valleys differently and the whole thing feels less like exercise and more like actually being somewhere.