Selkirk’s biggest
Pringle Park
Playing field
5.1 ha (13 acres)0.4 km of path
7 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
Centralin the middle of Selkirk
Playground
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Jim Barton · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Selkirk · parks, paths & countryside
89% of Selkirk’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Footpaths add up to 64 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 4.4 for every square kilometre. The Eildon and Leaderfoot National Scenic Area begins 3.7 mi from the town’s edge. Parks and playing fields in Selkirk add up to 4.4 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. Selkirk has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
Green space
4.4 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical town in England and Wales 2.1
Near a park
89%
of residents within 400 m
Typical town in England and Wales 83%
Footpaths
64 km
4.4 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical town in England and Wales 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
0%
of the land within 5 km
Eildon and Leaderfoot starts 3.7 mi out, past the 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Selkirk?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Countryside close byThe Eildon and Leaderfoot National Scenic Area starts 3.7 mi east.On a long-distance trailThe Borders Abbeys Way passes through.Historic parksThe Haining is a historic garden or designed landscape.
Selkirk’s strongest suit is the Eildon and Leaderfoot National Scenic Area close by, followed by the Borders Abbeys Way.
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Selkirk’s locality.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Scottish Government, NatureScot
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Selkirk
The biggest is Pringle Park, 5.1 ha (13 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
How close Selkirk’s homes are to a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (89%)Further (11%)
Selkirk89%
Scottish Borders towns81%
Towns in England and Wales83%
About 500 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 6 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 778 residents.
National Parks & National Scenic Areas
The Eildon and Leaderfoot National Scenic Area is 3.7 mi away
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the locality; circle size shows each one’s area. National Scenic Areas are Scotland’s finest landscapes, chosen by NatureScot.
National ParkNational Scenic AreaThe 5 km the grade counts
National Scenic Area
Eildon and Leaderfoot
3.7 mi east39 km²since 1980
National Scenic Area
Upper Tweeddale
13 mi west128 km²since 1980
Protected landscape begins just outside the 5 km ring the Outdoors Grade measures, so Selkirk scores 0% on it even though the Eildon and Leaderfoot National Scenic Area is 3.7 mi away.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Selkirk is on the Borders Abbeys Way
64 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Selkirk and the kilometre around it, 4.4 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
National
Borders Abbeys Way8.9 km
Cross Borders Drove Road (Traquair to Hawick)2.7 km
The Borders Abbeys Way, a national route, passes Selkirk.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Scotland has no rights-of-way register: everyone has a right of responsible access to most land, so tracks and councils’ core paths count. Paths are only as complete as the map in each area.
History along the way
A historic garden or designed landscape in Selkirk
Historic Environment Scotland’s Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Selkirk’s named parks.
Registered · Grade The Haining8.1 ha
A listed building or monument counts when it sits inside the park’s OS Open Greenspace outline (to about 15 m), so a few at the boundary are included. Historic Environment Scotland designations.
When to get out
The best walking months in Selkirk: May to September
The town’s 1991–2020 averages (Met Office HadUK-Grid) and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15 °C or more and little rain for the town.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 7.6 | 9.5 | 11.6 | 14.1 | 16.2 | 17.5 | 16.9 | 15.0 | 12.6 | 10.3 | 8.2 | 7.1 |
| High (°C) | 6 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 9 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 92 | 75 | 64 | 55 | 56 | 65 | 70 | 79 | 63 | 95 | 93 | 100 |
April is the driest month (55 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 100 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 64 nights a year. The climate in Selkirk →
Things to do
6 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 9
Howden Hill0.4 mi from town
DirectionsLinglie Hill342 m (1,122 ft) · 0.9 mi from town
DirectionsHarehead Hill1.1 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 6 hills and peaks without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Victoria Park Campsitein town
DirectionsNext door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
GalashielsLangleeBurnfootHawickInnerleithenSelkirk
ABCDOutdoors Grade
| Town | Outdoors | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Near a park | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selkirk | – | 4.4 | 89% | 0% |
| Galashiels 4.8 mi | – | 4.6 | 74% | 8% |
| Langlee 5.0 mi | – | 7.9 | 91% | 17% |
| Burnfoot 8.3 mi | – | 5.7 | 81% | 0% |
| Hawick 8.8 mi | – | 5.6 | 98% | 0% |
| Innerleithen 9.9 mi | – | 1.1 | 60% | 0% |
Questions about the outdoors in Selkirk
What is the biggest park in Selkirk?
Pringle Park, 5.1 ha (13 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Selkirk near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Eildon and Leaderfoot National Scenic Area, 3.7 mi east of the town’s edge. It covers 39 km² and was designated in 1980.
What are the best walks near Selkirk?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the Borders Abbeys Way and Cross Borders Drove Road (Traquair to Hawick).
How many people in Selkirk live near a park?
89% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical town in England and Wales is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Selkirk?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Which parks in Selkirk are historic?
The Haining (Grade ) is on Historic Environment Scotland’s Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes.
How is the Outdoors Grade worked out?
From five measures, each placed among UK towns of 1,000 or more: public green space per resident, the share living near a park, National Park or National Scenic Area within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Selkirk’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Selkirk’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks and green space: Ordnance Survey OS Open Greenspace (parks and gardens, playing fields, play spaces, and their access points). Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- National Parks and National Scenic Areas: Scottish Government and NatureScot boundaries (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Cairngorms; the 40 National Scenic Areas), clipped to land, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, tracks, core paths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik’s Scotland extract, October 2026.
- Historic gardens, listed buildings and monuments: Historic Environment Scotland designations, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Rain and temperature: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages for the town; daylight calculated from its latitude.
- The sea: ONS Countries (December 2024) boundaries clipped to mean high water. Residents near a park: NRS Scotland’s Census 2022 output areas.
- Grade: Scottish towns have no Outdoors Grade yet.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.