Duns is within easy reach of all the famous Border abbeys, such as Jedburgh, Kelso and Melrose.

Coldingham Abbey, not as famous now but once a great seat of religion and learning, is only a few miles away in the little village to which it gave its name.

Across the border, and the nearest large town, is Berwick upon Tweed, which has a bloody past having changed hands on a regular basis for many centuries. The ruins of the Elizabethan walls built to repel the invaders can still be seen surrounding the town.

The little fishing town of Eyemouth has a fishing museum comemorating not only the fishing industry in general, but also the Disaster of 1881 which devasted the fishing industry down the whole of the East Coast of Scotland, and virtually destroyed it in Eyemouth.

The little village of St Abbs, formerly called Coldingham Shore, is named after St Ebba, once Prioress of Coldingham who is reputed to have disfigured herself by cutting off her nose to save herself from the rampaging Norsemen. A representation of the head of St Ebba displayed above the gateway into the grounds of Northfield House at St Abbs, had the nose worn away by stones thrown by village youngsters in order to lend authenticity to the portrayal.

Duns has its own very ancient historical castle which can be viewed from the nature reserve. Outside views of Duns Castle were used in the film "Her Majesty Mrs Brown".

Manderston House, an outstanding Edwardian mansion, and the possesor of the only silver staircase in the world, is on the outskirts of Duns. This was the location of the Channel 4 series "The Edwardian Country House".

In the twentieth century Duns and Chirnside became famous through their association with the racing driver Jim Clark and whose museum can be seen in Newtown Street in Duns.

Duns still keeps alive its associations with its past, and with the Covenanters, in the celebrations taking place during Reiver's Week, usually the start of July.