Areas south of Edinburgh. Mostly small towns at lower elevations. Less mountainous, but better farming than in the highlands.
Melrose Abbey was founded by King David I in 1136, as the first Cistercian monastery in Scotland. The spot was chosen due to its association with the early Christian monastery at nearby Old Melrose founded by St Aidan in about 640.
The abbey grew rich on the wool trade, suffered through the Wars of Independence, and was substantially rebuilt in the 1380s. It continued in use as an abbey until the Protestant Reformation of 1560. After that, the existing monks were allowed to stay on: the last one died in 1590.
The sheer age of the surviving stone construction is a source of great fascination for visitors.

Abbotsford House is the home designed and built by Sir Walter Scott starting in 1812.