Fifteen miles south of Edinburgh lies Rosslyn Chapel, most recently famed in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, and it is to this incredible late medieval church that we begin our tour of southern Scotland. This is a land where the writ of the king was wanting, where robber-barons and powerful prelates ruled in his stead. This is the story of the struggle to control the border between Scotland and England, and a story that takes us back 1900 years and the building of a great wall by the Roman Empire.

   From Rosslyn, we wind our way through the patchwork fields of East Lothian to the North Sea coast, and head south over the Border into England and to Berwick-upon-Tweed. Once the country’s most important port, Berwick switched hands between Scotland and England thirteen times, and the town’s mighty ramparts give testament to a more war-like age. From here it is a short drive to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, home to an ancient monastery and only a stones-throw from the seat of the Dark-Age kings of Northumbria, at one time the most powerful kingdom in England and whose authority stretched to Edinburgh. We finish the day in the picturesque and rustic town of Alnwick.

   The second day begins with a look around the vast Alnwick Castle, seat of the Duke of Northumberland, whose family, the Percys have guarded the English side of the border for centuries. More recently, the castle was the backdrop for the filming of the Harry Potter movies. Then it’s on down the road to one of the great wonders of British history – Hadrian’s Wall. Built by the Romans around 120AD, the wall served both as a barrier and a passport control, as well as being the northern limit of their vast empire. We will take time to explore the wall and one of its many forts. As the empire waned so rose the power of the Church, and nowhere in Scotland is the influence of this institution more visible than in the border country. We’ll visit the ruined abbeys of Melrose and hidden Dryburgh, before returning to Edinburgh.

'This is the story of the struggle to control the border between Scotland and England, and a story that takes us back 1900 years and the building of a great wall by the Roman Empire.'

**All rates are available on request, and subject to seasonal variation, accommodation preferences and group size.