Fodor's Expert Review Hermitage Castle

To appreciate the famous 20-mile ride of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1566—she rushed to the side of her wounded lover, the Earl of Bothwell—travel southwest from Jedburgh to this, the most complete remaining example of the bare and grim medieval border castles. Restored in the early 19th century, it was built in the 13th century to guard what was at the time one of the important routes from England into Scotland. Local folklore maintains that the 14th-century Lord Soulis, a descendant of the original owner and notorious for diabolical excess, was captured by the local populace, who wrapped him in lead and boiled him in a cauldron—a much better story than the reality, which is that he died in Dumbarton Jail.