Moorfoot Hills

The Moorfoot Hills form a broad, rolling upland range straddling the boundary between Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, just twenty miles south of Edinburgh. Together with the neighbouring Pentlands and Lammermuirs, they create the green amphitheatre of hills that frames the southern approaches to the capital. The highest point, Blackhope Scar, rises to around 651 metres and offers expansive views across the Tweed valley, the Firth of Forth and, on clear days, the distant peaks of the Highlands.

The landscape is characterised by smooth, grass and heather-covered ridges cut by quiet glens and stream valleys, with reservoirs at Gladhouse, Rosebery and Portmore tucked among the lower slopes. Gladhouse Reservoir is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest and an important wintering ground for pink-footed and greylag geese.

Walkers and cyclists are drawn to the network of hill tracks and old drove roads, including stretches used by long-distance routes between the Pentlands and the Tweed. Villages such as Heriot, Innerleithen and Eddleston provide good starting points, with frequent buses from Edinburgh making the northern Moorfoots one of the easiest stretches of true open hill country to reach by public transport from the city.