Since we are right in the middle of Awards Season at the moment, we thought it would be fun to shine a spotlight on some brilliant award-winning businesses right here in the Borders.

At this time of year, you could be mistaken for thinking that most of our attractions are closed. But the destination businesses that we have featured here are all open twelve months of the year and we can’t recommend them highly enough in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter! From one of the best bookshops in the country to a very famous country clothing outfitters, award winning producers from the Cashmere, Tweed and Whisky Town to a multi award winning micro-brewery.

We have picked out four winning places to visit while you are in the Borders and all of them are within a half hour drive of Melrose.

And the winner is…

THE MAINSTREET TRADING COMPANY

4 miles from Melrose and a 10 minute drive

The Mainstreet Trading Company is an award-winning independent bookshop, café, deli and home shop located in the village of St Boswells.

Mainstreet has won a range of awards, including Best Bookshop 2012 at The Telegraph’s Best Small Shops Awards and Scottish Independent Bookshop of the Year 2011 & 2012 at the Bookseller Industry Awards.

The bookshop has over 7,000 titles in stock with particular importance placed on its extensive children’s section which has its own devoted niche in the store. Readers of all ages, tastes, abilities and interests are catered for. The bookshop also hosts a lively programme of author events and has welcomed writers ranging from Michael Morpurgo and Clare Balding to Alexander McCall Smith.

The Deli which was opened by chef, Tom Kitchin, has a strong local focus, combined with international flavours from Spain and the middle east, plus showcasing West Country cheeses (owner, Bill, grew up in Somerset). The Cafe has always been a key part of the business, so a Deli was the logical next step. The team work closely with local suppliers such as Julia Bruce (who makes many of the cafe’s mouth-watering cakes), Peelham Farm and Hardiesmill, to create a broad range of specialist foods with a particular focus on cheeses, cured and smoked meats.

Homeware at Mainstreet is sourced from as many independent artisan suppliers as possible, and stock ranges from kitchenware and stationery, to children’s slippers and wooden toys, plus some larger items along with Diana Muir Antiques.

Main Street, St Boswells, TD6 0AT – www.mainstreetbooks.co.uk

HUME’S of KELSO

14 miles from Melrose and a 20 minute drive

No visit to the Borders would be complete without a visit to this award-winning country clothing outfitters in Kelso. Hume’s are famous for selling the finest brands in country clothing to their loyal clientele in the Scottish Borders and also worldwide to over 70,000 customers!

A Hume Country Clothing was established in 1929 and continue to offer specialist services of bespoke tailoring and in-house alterations, whilst also stocking many fantastic lifestyle country clothing brands designed to attire you from head to toe.

Top quality brands include RM Williams, Dubarry, William Lockie Knitwear, Magee, Bladen, Barbour, Viyella, Gant, Eden Park, Seidensticker, Gurteen, Fairfax and Favor, Schoffel, Gibson and Birkbeck, JOTT, Hicks and Brown, Amazing Woman, Laksen and more.

The fantastic range of products and brands in stock is supported by the excellent product knowledge of each member of the team. Hume’s of Kelso are renowned for delivering exemplary levels of customer service and providing a shopping experience that will exceed expectations.

Humes of Kelso, 46 The Square, Kelso, TD5 7HL – www.ahume.co.uk

BORN IN THE BORDERS

12 miles from Melrose and a 20 minute drive

Born in the Borders is an extraordinary visitor centre located next to the Born in the Borders Brewery.

Set on the banks of the River Teviot, it brings together the best of everything that is grown, made, spun, produced, cooked and created in the area. With two shops, a stunning cafe and restaurant, riverside walks, picnic spots and brewery tours, there’s no better way to discover the incredible wealth of products and goods that the Borders has to offer.

From plough to pint. The Born in the Borders Brewery is a multi-award winning microbrewery creating real ale using barley grown in the neighbouring fields. Founded in 2011, and originally known as the Scottish Borders Brewery, the brewery distributes in cask and bottle across the UK, and its strong “plough to pint” ethos has seen it grow rapidly. Beers include Foxy Blonde, Game Bird, Holy Cow, Dark Horse, Flower of Scotland and Gold Dust and the brewery also runs a unique project called Wild Harvest, which uses locally foraged ingredients to flavour a separate range of beers.

The team at The Lilliard Ginnery, based at Born in the Borders, were inspired by Borders legend and local heroine Lilliard. Lilliard Gin is distilled in small batches in a beautiful copper still, and their botanicals have been carefully selected to represent the lush abundance of the rolling Scottish Borders countryside. Rowan, rosehip, meadowsweet and elderflower combine with juniper to create an elegant, floral gin that embodies the four fragrant seasons of our Border valleys.

Born in the Borders, Lanton Mill, Jedburgh, TD8 6ST – www.bornintheborders.com

FAMOUSLY HAWICK

19 miles from Melrose and a 30 minute drive

The Cashmere, Tweed and Whisky Town

For the finest collection of premium Scottish products, there’s only one town to visit. Hawick in the Scottish Borders has a rich manufacturing heritage and an international reputation for producing award winning, quality goods.

From the ‘Home of Tweed’ and some of the best cashmere and knitwear producers in the world today to the first whisky distillery to open in the Scottish Borders since 1837. With the Borders Distillery, Hawico, Johnstons of Elgin, William Lockie and Lovat Mill all located between the four bridges of Hawick, nowhere else will you find such a wide range of premium Scottish products all made in the same town. Discover for yourself what fashion houses, designers and discerning visitors have known for more than a century and source luxurious goods in the very place where they were created.

The Borders Distillery is the first Scotch Whisky Distillery to open in the Scottish Borders since 1837, this new distillery is dedicated to making great whisky and gin and to capturing the spirit of the Borders using water from a borehole on site and barley that is grown locally. The Borders Distillery took top honours in the heritage category of the 2018 AJ Architecture Awards.

Hawico are one of the leading cashmere brands in the world today, this specialist manufacturer is committed to producing luxurious cashmere knitwear from its Trinity Mills in Hawick where you are invited right into the heart of production and you can see garments being knitted from the spacious viewing gallery.

Cashmere is a true luxury product – and one that is irrevocably associated with multi award winning Johnstons of Elgin. The only manufacturer in Scotland to have the capability to take natural fibres from a raw state all the way through every stage of the process to perfectly finished products in cashmere, vicuna, lambswool and merino.

Upholding the pride of Hawick since 1874, through luxury handcrafted knitwear, William Lockie are one of the oldest family run luxury knitwear businesses based in the Scottish Borders, quite simply “Lockie’s” are steeped in history and tradition.

‘The Home of Tweed’ and Scotland’s premier weaver of Estate and Regimental tweeds. Lovat Mill continues to tell the story of Tweed in its birthplace and produces the largest selection of stocked Tweeds in Scotland, woven here in the mill.

www.famouslyhawick.co.uk