The Watch Water is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

 area of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It rises in the Lammermuir Hills

Lammermuir Hills

The Lammermuir Hills, usually simply called the Lammermuirs , in southern Scotland, form a natural boundary between Lothian and the Scottish Borders....

, around 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of Longformacus

Longformacus

Longformacus is a small village in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is around north-west of Duns, in the Lammermuir Hills. The Dye Water runs through the village, flowing east towards its confluence with the Whiteadder Water nearby...

, and flows generally eastward to its confluence with the Dye Water

Dye Water

The Dye Water is a river in the Lammermuir Hills in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It rises in the Hope Hills, continues along the East Lothian boundary, a mile north east of Seenes Law, then east to Longformacus...

, around 700 metres (2,296.6 ft) west of Longformacus. The Dye Water flows into the Whiteadder Water

Whiteadder Water

Whiteadder Water is a river in East Lothian and Berwickshire, Scotland. It also flows for a very short distance through Northumberland before joining the River Tweed...

, which in turn is a tributary of the River Tweed

River Tweed

The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is long and flows primarily through the Borders region of Great Britain. It rises on Tweedsmuir at Tweed's Well near where the Clyde, draining northwest, and the Annan draining south also rise. "Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise oot the ae hillside" as the Border saying...

.

Watch Water Reservoir

Watch Water Reservoir is a man-made reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

, located approximately half way along the river's course, around 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Longformacus and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Duns

Duns

Duns is the county town of the historic county of Berwickshire, within the Scottish Borders.-Early history:Duns law, the original site of the town of Duns, has the remains of an Iron Age hillfort at its summit...

. It extends to 49 hectares (121.1 acre), and is formed by an earthen dam. The Southern Upland Way

Southern Upland Way

Opened in 1984, the Southern Upland Way is a coast to coast walk in Scotland between Portpatrick in the west and Cockburnspath in the east....

, a Long Distance Route which runs across southern Scotland, skirts the northern edge of the reservoir, and the Sir Walter Scott Way

Sir Walter Scott Way

The Sir Walter Scott Way is a long distance path in the Scottish Borders of Scotland, in memory of Sir Walter Scott, of one of Scotland's greatest writers.-The Way:...

 from Moffat

Moffat

Moffat is a former burgh and spa town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, lying on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. The most notable building in the town is the Moffat House Hotel, designed by John Adam...

 to Cockburnspath

Cockburnspath

Cockburnspath is a village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It lies near the North Sea coast between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh. It is at the eastern extremity of the Southern Upland Way, a long-distance footpath from the west to east coast of Scotland, and it is also the terminus...

 also passes by it. The partial ruins of a peel tower

Peel tower

Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...

survive as part of Old Scarlaw Cottage, also on the northern edge of the reservoir.

John Dippie's Well

Close to where the Southern Upland Way crosses the Watch Water is John Dippie's Well. This natural spring is marked by a carved stone erected in 1869, inscribed "There is no water in the Lammermuirs sweeter than that at John Dippie’s Well." The remains of an 18th-century farmstead, traditionally the home of the well's Keeper is located nearby.

The reason for the sweetness of the water, according to family sources, was that John would go ahead of his shooting party to add some whisky to the water.