Abbotsford House, the home of Sir Walter of Scott

Sir Walter Scott is known as the most famous Scottish poet and historical novelist. Some of his famous works included Waverly, Rob Roy and The Heart of Midlothian.

As part of our Scottish Borders campaign in partnership with Visit Scotland which was to create awareness of the region with the new Borders Railway opening up in September, we were staying at the luxurious Hope Scott Wing, within Abbotsford House. The house is located a short drive from Galashiels and Melrose by the banks of River Tweed. Our room had a view across the back of the house and towards the River where you had a few horses grazing and a lot of wildlife roaming the field and woods. Later in the evening you could enjoy the sun setting over the treetops above the River Tweed. The room was spacious with an even more impressive bathroom, with a beautiful free standing bath, his and her sink and a very large walk-in shower. All the public areas and guest rooms came with free Wi-Fi, which is often expected everywhere, but this was a pleasant surprise in such a historic building.

This grand property was the private home of Sir Walter Scott and takes luxurious accommodation to a new level. Every time I entered one of the public rooms, I was expecting a butler or servants to appear to take my order or bring refreshments.

The Hope Scott Wing sleeps up to 15 guests over 7 bedrooms and is ideal for a luxurious weekend away with friends or family with self-catering facilities and large public areas, including the reading room (which unofficially became the Scotlanders media hub), billiard room and the garden or piano room. The house also compromises a large and beautiful walled garden, which you could just imagine Scott having used for both inspiration and relaxation. This also looks ideal as an entertainment area for either nice receptions or other outdoor events.

Our host for the weekend was Marianne, who was very attentive and ever so accommodating. She was there when we arrived to give everyone a tour of the Hope Scott Wing and make sure that we had everything we needed. Marianne was also the one cooking our breakfast both mornings during our stay.

Our tour of Abbotsford House on the Sunday was by Julie. It is also possible to use an App created by Intermezzo and this can be downloaded and used rather than the guide and will give you a very good verbal guided tour and in-depth information about the house and a map, which is useful due to the scale of the house http://www.guidemetour.co.uk/index.php/layout/abbotsford

It was such a wow-factor when you first arrived into the entrance hall of Abbotsford House and saw Scott’s, as he was called by Julie, large armoury collection, all of these with a story of their own. Scott had such a large collection of both armoury and thousands of books. These could all be found throughout the house in several of the rooms. I in particular liked his private library, which was such an astonishing space. It included a small work desk in the middle of the room where Scott would sit and write most of his work. He also had a small balcony installed, with direct access to his bedroom, so that he could come directly to work without having to wake up anyone else in the house.

Sir Walter Scott’s writing desk

Library and staircase.

Sir Walter Scott

Large collection of artefacts by Scott over decades, which is now on display to the general public.

Our walk concluded back at the main entrance and wee then took the opportunity to roam the beautiful walled Garden beside the house.

If you wish to see more about our Scotlanders visit to the Borders and Abbotsford House, please visit www.thescotlanders.com or follow us on twitter @scotlanders Also, if you wish to learn more about or even book a tour or a luxurious stay at Abbotsford House, I would highly recommend you visit Hope Scott Wing

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Please note all views are my own and any questions you may have regarding this or any other of my visits around Scotland, please feel free to get in touch directly or via the Scotlanders email on info@thescotlanders.com