Thirteen years ago I was living in Surrey, had a very good job and was very much involved in the "rat race", running to catch the underground ….mind the step…..… .racing to get my train and doing my journey back home standing and swaying about in a smelly, sweaty, overcrowded compartment.

I was more and more fed up with the rat race, the competition, the shoving and the pushing and decided to quit my job, sell my house and see where the wind would take me.

A call from my daughter in Scotland decided of my future. "Mum you're totally on your own other there why don't you come to Scotland, it's great" Hmmm….remembered crossing Scotland a few years before and promised myself I would never live there. All I could see then were the very stern looking buildings, grey skies, sheep, sheep and more sheep…. baaaaaaaa……….and people I could not understand….not for me. But for some very strange reason, which until today I cannot explain, the removal van headed towards Scotland!!!!

My daughter asked me to come and live with her. She found a large house near Hawick, in the Borders, on top of a hill uninhabited for the last 20 years!!! No water, no electricity…great fun….but there was a natural spring! In no time she had a bath installed, hot water provided by the coal fires and we even watched television thanks to car batteries!!! More fun.

Our days were spent in collecting and chopping wood, cooking, looking after our 3 dogs and 15 hens, hill walking, and watching nature. Totally alien to me until then, but I loved it. The nearest town was 6 miles away, the nearest phone box 3 miles (no mobiles then or no reception) to come up to the house you had to use a mud track and open and shut 9 gates…good exercise….mind you if you had to call an ambulance (and we had to at one point) not funny at all especially in winter when the track was icy. They abandoned their vehicle and carried on foot …or on their bum with all their equipment flying about…very brave people.

Once a year the farmer who owned the land would organise a shooting party and we would see 10 or more range rovers packed with prospective killers, dressed up in their new posh attire brandishing sparkling new guns which they never used before and didn't know how to use anyway, hiding behind trees to shoot pheasants??? They pay hundreds of pounds for that???? Eh man what's wrong with you, no need to shoot them, all pheasants have a death wish, they cross the road in front of your car to get killed anyway, what's the point?
Apparently there is a law in Scotland, which allows you to pick up a pheasant the car before you killed, but if your car kills it you're not allowed to pick it up!!!!

So I decided to spoil their fun and bought an old Subaru with no exhaust. Couldn't drive it on the road because it had no MOT but on the tracks it was OK. I would then go up and down the track at full speed to scare the pheasants so they would not be shot…it worked…but I was ever so unpopular with the farmer!!!! I wander why????

I am still in Scotland, not in the same place though, I have running water, electricity but still very unpopular with farmers!!!! My car and front door can stay unlocked day and night and you can even go out in pyjamas if you like nobody will stare at you.

Places like these are still possible to find and it's so beautiful to escape from the crowds. The beauty of the Borders Scotland is that you can walk up the hills for hours and never meet a living soul except from animals: hares, badgers, foxes, deer, otters, pheasants, grouse, buzzards, eagles, kestrels, oyster-catchers, avocets, herons, lapwings etc… and many more I cannot name, it's magic. When I say this, I always remember my son telling me how disappointed he was climbing Mount Everest and the first person he met at the top was a cockney saying to him: "aint this bloody smashing"!!!! Nothing against cockneys!

Today I went for a walk with my puppy, we walked approx one hour, we met 2 neighbours, 3 dogs, 1 horse, 4 geese and we ate wild raspberries and wild cherries, ……….delicious…….. puppy said.

Once you discovered the magic and diversity of the Scottish Borders (the Scottish Borders covers an area of 1800 square miles) you will want to return again. Everyone unwinds in different ways. The magnificent Borders scenery all around will entice you to get out there and explore. Climb the volcanic Eildon Hills above the Tweed valley, go salmon fishing on the river Tweed at Kelso, enjoy a round of golf, or clay pigeon shooting or drive to Edinburgh for a faster life (24 miles from Peebles).

The enduring beauty of the Borders Abbeys is the ideal spot for quiet reflection while the stately charm of country mansions give a view of life in grander days. Visit the magnificent Floors Castle in Kelso, step back in time for the magical Traquair House Medieval Fair (near Innerleithen), go to the Beltane Festival or the Highland games in Peebles or if you prefer explore the forests, visit the Osprey Watch at Glentress forest (routes suitable for all users including buggies and wheelchairs) Kailzie Gardens and many more. Treat yourself with the best cashmere in Hawick. You will find all info and list of accommodation available at www.visitscottishborders.com
or call 0845 22 55 121.

From Peebles
Distances to English towns
Carlisle 75 miles - London 390 miles - Newcastle 106 miles - York 170 miles.
Distances to Scottish towns
Aberdeen 149 miles - Ayr 70 miles - Dumfries 54 miles - Fort Williams 169 miles - Glasgow 50 miles - Inverness 183 miles - Oban 148 miles - Perth 66 miles - St Andrews 80 miles - Stirling 45 miles - Stranraer 109 miles
Distances to local towns
Hawick 32 miles - Kelso 35 miles - Innerleithen 6 miles.