Abbotsford House - Sir Walter Scott

Our tour presented us further views on the pleasant Borders leading us to Abbotsford House, the home of Sir Walter Scott, near Galashiels. Sir Walter Scott purchased the Cartley Hall farmhouse on the banks of the Tweed in 1812. Together with his family and servants, he moved into the farm which he renamed Abbotford House.

Even today Abbotsford House is the property of the family and people live in it all over the year. Parts of the house are open to the public as a museum. Dame Jean, the great-, great-, great-, great-grandchild of Sir Walter Scott, showed us through the historical rooms. The entrance hall with the great fireside and the trophies and pieces of remembrance from many countries and continents were quite impressing to us.

What a huge amount of chasing trophies and knight's arms, valuable wood-carvings and quite picked and richly decorated furniture.

The library was built in two levels; the gallery accessible by a short staircase and secured by expensive rail made of wrought iron.

The collection of books richly equipped with bibliophilic issues, gave us a vivid impression on the quite noble ambiente in which that famous master of the feather wrote his best-sellers.

The very precious collection of small-arms, daggers, machetes, sables and swords called for our admiring eyes. With their rich chiselled works they gave quite a good impression on the selective taste of the collecting person.

The dining room, too, was very impressing due to the gallery of ancestors and those many pieces of tableware. And from this chamber Sir Walter Scott has had a wonderful view on the large park along the river Tweed. He could enjoy this view until his death on 21st September, 1832.

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