Harmony Garden

Harmony Garden is three acres of walled garden around a Georgian house in the centre of Melrose, with views over the wall to the ruins of Melrose Abbey and the three Eildon Hills beyond. The house was built in 1807 by a Melrose joiner who had made his fortune in Jamaica and named it after his plantation; the National Trust for Scotland lets it as holiday accommodation and opens the garden free of charge, with lawns, scented borders, fruit and vegetable beds, a glasshouse, and a bulb lawn thought to be one of the oldest in Scotland that carpets the grass in early spring, followed by azaleas and rhododendrons in May. The Borders Book Festival takes over the garden each June. Reviewers call it a peaceful hidden gem, small but free with a donation box. Tips from visitors: park on the street about 200 metres from the gate, combine it with Priorwood Garden and the abbey a few minutes' walk away, and it closes from November to March.