Travel: Scottish borders retreat with Sir Walter Scott heritage

That’s the argument that greets you when you arrive at the visitor centre at Abbotsford, the huge turreted Gothic Revival house, near Melrose he built in 1811.

The author of Ivanhoe and Rob Roy is one of the most successful authors of all time and the second-most quoted writer in the Oxford English Dictionary after William Shakespeare. Scott made a huge fortune from his novels, history volumes and verse, which funded the creation of Abbotsford on the banks of the River Tweed where its Scottish baronial architecture became another fashion. He sparked a romantic revolution by drawing on history and legend.

George IV was a fan and made Scott a baronet and, after his coronation, asked him to host a royal visit to Edinburgh in 1822, where the king wore a tartan kilt. Later, tourists read Scott’s Waverley novels and embraced all things Scottish - as did Queen Victoria.

The rooms at Abbotsford were left as Scott kept them - open to the public since early 1833, five months after Scott’s death. Visitor books contain the signatures of many notable writers, including Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë and Oscar Wilde. The dramatic entrance hall heaves with coats-of-arms and shields, suits of armour, carved stones and wooden panelling.

The most touching room is Scott’s study where he toiled on his later novels in a desperate attempt to write off his £126,000 of debts after a financial crash. It’s lined with galleries of books and features the desk where he wrote most of his books.

Outside is the beautiful Regency garden he designed, a greenhouse based on a medieval jousting tent and paths through the estate and along the bank of the River Tweed.

I stayed with my sister Helen a few miles drive downriver in a holiday rental. We drove past the Eildon Hills and over the beauty spot Scott’s View. Our base, a short walk from Dryburgh Abbey where Scott is buried, is in a privately-owned estate, where pink sandstone and pistachio-painted weatherboarded farm buildings (steadings) and the farmhouse have been stylishly converted into luxury boltholes.

It was minus-5 outside when we arrived at Steading Two - a spacious two-bedroom house with two ensuite bathrooms and a ground floor wet room. We were welcomed by a blast of central heating, a wood burner with unlimited logs and a generous basket of essentials and treats in a hamper and the fridge.

The owner has a great eye for interior design and has cleverly created a vibe of rustic elegance. Original art and cattle sculptures hang from the walls in beautifully lit rooms with a myriad of lamps.

Steading Two is beautifully furnished (Image: Tracey Bloxham)

The large sitting room with the log burner has two supremely comfy sofas. I loved cooking in the well-equipped open-plan kitchen, with its dining and sitting area - there’s a tartan sofa and a telly. Upstairs the bedrooms have super king-size beds and sleek contemporary design. It’s such a great house, it’s better than home.

The open plan kitchen and dining-living area (Image: Tracey Bloxham)

Doors open from the sitting room and kitchen to a garden with patio area, furniture, and a gas barbecue. Sweeping views down the river and across the hills make this a tranquil and inspiring spot. I made a note to return in spring or summer, although a wintry visit with the trees frozen sculpturally white was spectacular too.

The bothy opens out onto a patio (Image: Tracey Bloxham)

In the grounds the Temple of the Muses is built in neoclassical Greek style to honour the local, Rule, Britannia! Poet and playwright James Thomson. A short walk begins by crossing the river on the pedestrian only Dryburgh Suspension Bridge. From here a stroll for a mile along the Tweed on St Cuthbert’s Way, where we spotted a heron, passes through woodland to St Boswells and one of our favourite discoveries, Mainstreet Trading Company’s bookshop, café and deli. It does all three things brilliantly.

Remain on the river’s east side from Steading Two, and a five-minute amble leads to ruined Dryburgh Abbey, and a hotel, if you fancy a drink or meal.

In the other direction we climbed to a colossal statue above the trees of the warrior William Wallace. Small towns to visit within a short drive of Dryburgh are Melrose (seven miles) and Jedburgh (12), both with ruined abbeys and independent shops. A walk I love is from Selkirk to The Haining Estate, a haven of loch and woodland surrounding an 18th century Palladian mansion. Here there’s a bronze statue of Old Ginger. Every Dandie Dinmont terrier can trace its ancestry back to this dog who was born on the estate in 1842 and was named after a Sir Walter Scott character. It is believed that the Auld Kirk in Selkirk is the spot where William Wallace, was proclaimed Guardian of Scotland in 1298. He used the nearby Ettrick Forest as a base for raids across the Borders.

The housekeepers at Dryburgh showed us round some of the other properties - the farmhouse, which sleeps 10, and the diminutive Bothy, which has been gloriously restored from its humble origins housing farmworkers, with an impressive emperor bed topped with a crown.

* Three nights at Dryburgh Steading Two, St. Boswells (sleeps 4 plus 2 dogs) is available through Crabtree & Crabtree from £672 (or seven nights from £840). To book, contact Crabtree & Crabtree on 01573 226711 or through the website.

crabtreeandcrabtree.com