Blue Skies in the Borders

How lucky are we to have woken up to beautiful blue skies this morning!  There was quite a wind blowing, however, but we still managed to have a glorious day.

After a yummy breakfast of traditional Scottish Porridge, we headed out to Abbotsford, the family home of Sir Walter Scott.   The drive was along a lovely road, where the locals somehow drive 60 mph. (This might explain why we counted at least a dozen dead pheasants along one short stretch of the drive.) But no worries.....Marty is very polite and pulls over if he thinks that he is holding up traffic for any stretch of time.

We arrived at Abbotsford just after it opened,  and the lighting that shone on the buildings couldn't have been more perfect!

And walking to the entrance was even better!

When we walked inside, we were greeted by two lovely women who were eager to set us up for a self tour using audioguides.  We were given the option of listening to a "Lovely woman with an Edinburgh accent", or Sir Walter Scott himself, as we walked through the bottom level of this stately home.  I picked the writer, and Marty chose the woman, which he soon learned was NOT as entertaining as the man himself.  I found myself laughing as I listened,  which really is the best way to learn about someone's home.

The tour began in the downstairs armory where the walls were covered with all kinds of interesting items, including statues of SS Peter & Paul, which were replicas from the ones that once stood in nearby Melrose Abbey.  

From there we walked into Sir Walter Scott's study, where I immediately fell in love with the surroundings.

Just look at all of those books!  And a staircase leading to an upper level of books!  The cases were adorned with some interesting details.

As if this were not enough of a literary heaven, walking through the doors brought me to the library!

Can you believe this?   Loads and loads of books nearly everywhere I looked! 

A statue of Shakespeare sat stately along one wall.

And there was a painting of Scott's son dressed as a Hessian soldier, hanging above the fireplace.  Scott, himself, told me that this was the most important feature of the room, so the painting must have been one of his favorites. 

Scott went on to say that he had originally been told that the library was in need of a  "flirting" room, so he extended a turret structure, which held cases of books that would appeal to young woman.

So, apparently, while reading, a young lady could entertain a young man, and enjoy this fabulous side view as well.  

You really can't beat that, can you?

As I continued on the tour,  so many items caught my attention.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

Honestly, this had to be one of the best tours that Marty and I have taken. 

We really enjoyed every aspect of it. 

Once outside, it wasn't difficult to imagine just why this home is so special.  

It really is like a picture post card, isn't it?

From here we headed into Melrose.  First stop was Priorwood Gardens.  Unfortunately, as a safety precaution the gardens were closed.  I'm not sure what prompted that, but I do know that the winds were extremely gusty, so it could be that was the link to the closure.

We'd found a free parking spot on the street, so we decided to walk around in search of the Harmony Garden, also a National Trust property.   We passed the mercat cross which is actually in Market Square.

We soon figured out that we were walking in the wrong direction, so we turned around, and headed down the street, and finally found Harmony house

and the magnificent gardens located just across from Melrose Abbey.

We decided to visit the Abbey which is an HES property.  Did you know that one is considered to be a "concession" rate at the age of 60 here in Scotland?  So, when the girl rung us up at a regular rate, we were a bit delighted to think that she didn't realize that we were both of age for concession, but that didn't keep us from informing her that we qualified.  She was more than happy to change the rate.  

I suppose it's a good thing that we don't look our age.  Well....at least this young attendant was convinced otherwise.  

Marty decided to use the audio tour for the abbey, but I declined, which, to be quite frank, was the smarter option in my mind.  I felt like I knew way too much about the Cistern order just a few minutes in, and there was no way to fast forward!

Once again, the views were awesome.

And we were able to climb a stone turret and look out from a vantage point.  

The wind was brutal, and we didn't spend too much time outside as we didn't want to risk being blown over!  But I did manage to get a quick photo of Marty under the bell tower.

And he got one of me as well!

The views were so beautiful that it's difficult not to share them, so here are a couple more.

By now, I was pretty tuckered out by all of the walking and the wind, so we headed to a small coffee shop, which, by luck had wi-fi, and I was able to post yesterday's blog.  I was having difficulty connecting to the internet at our B&B, but I think that I might have resolved that issue.  I suppose we'll find out tomorrow! 

After  enjoying a scone and cappuccino, we decided to drive out to Smailholm tower.  The drive was rather interesting, with some of the road being only wide enough for one vehicle, and it did present a challenge on one occasion, but for the most part, we didn't have any issues.  But you better bet that we kept our eyes peeled in the event someone might be popping around the corner.  

I took this photo of the tower at a distance, while we were still on the normal track road.

and this was a bit closer.

How awesome is that?

And here is Marty before we tracked up to the tower.

This time the path was well marked.

The tower was built in 1450 by the Pringle family, as a protection to keep the English marauders from stealing their goods.  The bottom two floors were used to store food, and the family lived in the upper floors. 

In 1645, the tower was sold to Sir William Scott, and Sir Walter Scott was known to have spent time here with his grandparents while recovering from polio.   It was here that the author came to love the ballads of the Scottish Borders.

I find it fascinating that all of these sights that we visited today had some sort of connection to Sir Walter Scott.

After hiking up the hill,  we entered the doorway

and began the climb up the turret stairs to the top of the building.  Along the way, there were figurine displays of many of Scotts works, on each floor. 

I've only shown a few, but each one was unique and beautifully displayed.

At the top, we were able to step outside, after we made certain that there was enough protection so that we wouldn't be blown away.  I'm not kidding when I tell you that the winds were fierce this afternoon!

But just look at those views!

Amazing, don't you think?

It truly was a spectacular day and I'm happy to have been able to share our adventures with you.

I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did!