Beirhope Alpacas

Back in 2016, Lynne Jobes went to a glamping show with the intention to buy some yurts. She wanted to set up a campsite on her smallholding in the Scottish southern borders but, to everyone’s surprise, she returned with alpacas. Since then, she and her team have been running Beirhope Alpaca Trekking, a lovely little business offering hikes into the surrounding landscape of the Cheviot Hills and the Kale Valley. Now, several years later, Beirhope has become a campsite and it’s finally possible to pitch up right next to the woolly Peruvians.

Set just slightly north of the Anglo-Scottish border and overlooked by the old Roman hill fort of Thowliestane Hill, campers can pitch a tent and have a campfire in the field adjacent to the alpaca paddock. Furthermore, to keep from scaring the alpacas, dogs are not allowed in the main part of the site but are welcome to stay with their owners on a separate pitch in a secluded oak and beech woodland closer to the barn. The barn houses the main reception area and is also where the facilities can be found. There’s a compost loo, hot water bucket shower, and honesty shop for essentials.

It’s not all about the alpacas, however. Beirhope offers the chance for guests to share in the owner’s passion for the landscape in which they find themselves. Indeed, a short walk along Dere Street, possibly Scotland’s oldest road and which runs past the campsite, leads to Thowliestane with its panoramic views taking in the Eildons and Peniel Heugh to the north and The Cheviot, The Schill and Hownam Law to the East. It’s not the Andes but it is wild and breathtaking in equal measure. And whether you have Lynne’s alpaca crew in tow or not, this really is a walker’s paradise. The classic Pennine Way route has its northern end in the tiny village of Kirk Yetholm a short distance away and the east-west trail, St Cuthbert’s Way, passes through the same place, bridging the English Scottish border.

Going slightly further afield will lead to the market town of Kelso, home of the magnificent Floors Castle, which lies on the confluence of the rivers Tweed and Teviot or the historic county town of Jedburgh, with its 12th-century abbey, both within a short driving distance of Beirhope.