Peebles for the non-golfer.

Innerleithen, 6 miles east on B7062 · adult ~£13 · open April to October

Inhabited since 1107 and continuously owned by the Stuart family since 1491, Traquair claims to be Scotland's oldest inhabited house, a claim that is hard to argue with. The Bear Gates — closed since 1745 and not to be opened until a Stuart sits again on the throne — are the most photographed element. The house itself, with its brewery (still producing a well-regarded ale), its priest's room, its archive of Jacobite correspondence, and its 20-odd rooms of largely untouched contents, is one of the more remarkable house visits in Scotland.

1 mile west on B712 · admission charged when open · riverside path from town bridge

A 14th-century tower house on a promontory above the River Tweed, accessible by the riverside path from the town bridge. The walk itself — 30 minutes along the river, through mature woodland — is as good as the destination. The castle is not always open for interiors but the exterior and grounds can usually be explored. The view back to Peebles from the castle is one of the better valley views in the Borders.

3 miles east on A72 · Forestry Scotland · parking charge · year-round

The most-visited mountain biking venue in Scotland, with trails from beginner (green and blue) to extreme (black runs of the kind that only make sense if you already understand why). Bike hire, a café, and changing facilities on site. The walking trails through the forest are also excellent — quieter than the bike routes, with views across the Tweed valley from the higher paths. A full-day option in good weather; a half-day in reasonable weather.

2.5 miles east on B7062 · adult £6 · open daily April to October

A 20-acre garden on the south bank of the Tweed, with a walled garden, a pond with waterfowl, and an osprey-watching station linked to a live camera feed from a local nesting pair. The ospreys are the draw — they nest nearby from April and the feed runs through the summer. The garden itself is unpretentious: the kind of privately maintained space where the family's interest in plants is evident and the planting is genuinely good.

In town · free · year-round

Peebles has a good independent bookshop (Peebles Books), several wool shops on the High Street selling Scottish-made knitwear, and enough cafés to spend a morning in. The riverside walk along the Tweed from Peebles Bridge — upstream through Hay Lodge Park, downstream to the remains of Horsburgh Castle — is flat, well-surfaced, and excellent in any dry weather. A morning in the town and a riverside walk covers a day pleasantly without spending much.

6 miles east on A72 · NTS adult £9 · open Apr–Oct

A Victorian job printer on Innerleithen High Street, preserved by the National Trust for Scotland exactly as it was left when the business closed in 1986 — the type cases, the order books, the office correspondence, and the 1850 Columbian press all intact. The firm operated continuously from 1866; tours include a chance to print a souvenir on the original press. It is one of those NTS properties that is harder to explain than it is to experience, and considerably better than you expect.

8 miles southwest on B712, Stobo valley · adult £7 · open March to November

A Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh outpost in the Stobo valley — 65 acres of arboretum developed over several centuries, with many of the larger conifers brought from China and North America by plant hunters including George Forrest in the early 1900s. The Dawyck Beech, a fastigiate form now planted in parks throughout Britain, was first identified on this estate. In autumn the colour is as good as anything in the Borders; in spring the snowdrops arrive in quantity before most gardens have woken up.

6 miles east on A72 · free to explore · year-round

Walter Scott set his 1824 novel St Ronan's Well in a thinly disguised Innerleithen, and the chalybeate spring on Wells Brae — which Scott effectively put on the map — survives in a small park above the town. The spring gave the village a brief 19th-century career as a health resort; the main trade now is mountain biking, wool, and the printing works listed above. The forested hillside above Innerleithen has some of the best downhill mountain bike trails in the Borders. Worth combining with Traquair House and Robert Smail's into a full Innerleithen day.