Decision to be made on future of affordable Scottish Borders hostel
◆ Future of 80-year-old Kirk Yetholm Hostel in question as existing owners are due to retire next year writes Katharine Hay
Steeped in Romani-scottish history and nestled in the hills just a stone’s throw away from the Scotland-england border sits the only inexpensive haven for miles for walkers and cyclists.
Traveling along the border as part of Hay’s Way, there was no hostel in sight for several days. There are hotels, but when on the road for a while and on a budget, it was noticeable how few cheaper options, aside from your tent, there are in this area.
That is one reason that makes arriving at Kirk Yetholm Hostel, tucked in the corner of the Cheviot hills and at a crossroad for several long-distance paths, particularly special. The building is owned and run by Simon Neal and his partner, Maureen, and a band of volunteers.
It is part of the Friends of Nature network, which unites some 800 houses across the world providing inexpensive accommodation for those who enjoy being in nature.
But Mr Neal said he is retiring next year, which has put the future of the building, which has hosted thousands of visitors in the 80-plus years it has run as a hostel, into question.
“We are wondering how this place is going to be run in the future,” Mr Neal told me after I spent the night there.
“My preferred option is for our Borders Friends of Nature group to take it on via a mix of grant and crowd funding. [We] have some serious thinking to do later in the year.”
As well as a comfortable bed at £28 and a large, well-equipped communal kitchen, the building has a unique story.
According to locals, the building was constructed in the 1860s from surplus rubble from the nearby church. It is understood the local landowner at the time was saved by a Romani person while abroad. On his return, he was determined to build a ‘Ragged school’ to serve the local Romani community in the Borders. Ragged schools tended to be established by evangelical Christians in response to child poverty in the mid 19th century. The landlord’s vision, however, wasn’t successful.
The building was sold in 1939 to then Scottish Youth Hostel (SYHA), now Hostelling Scotland, and reopened in 1942 as a hostel. In 2012, it was taken on by Mr Neal and Maureen who, in their time running it, have celebrated the hostel’s 80th anniversary in 2022.
The hostel sits on the border of Northumberland National Park and lies on the St Cuthbert’s Way, the Scottish National Trail and is the final stop on the Pennine Way.
Mr Neal said: “What is unique about this place is we probably have the highest footfall of people arriving on foot or bicycle in any village hostel barring the remote sites accessible only via track or mountain path.”