It all started in June 2004, when Alistair Moffat had the idea of holding a small literary gathering in Melrose. Alistair was joined that year by Paula Ogilvie and, what started with a few speakers and an audience of 400, has turned into a four-day extravaganza with around 40,000 visitors now attending annually.

We’ve come a long way since that first year in the old Wynd Theatre in the centre of Melrose which saw the beginning of the partnership between Alistair and Paula who are still running things today, with the support of a very small team and an enthusiastic band of volunteers.

We started in the Wynd Theatre, then moved via the Corn Exchange and the Melrose Festival Ball Marquee to Harmony Garden – home to the festival since 2007.

In 2015 we expanded our offering to include the family-friendly Harmony Orchard where we now host a festival village with event marquees, a stretch tent bar and a collection of food trucks selling artisan-made ice cream, fresh coffee and a tantalising selection of food for all ages and tastes…

We were at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, to take part in his 250th anniversary celebrations in November 2021, before returning once more to our own home at Harmony in 2022.