Our final stay in the countryside before heading back to Edinburgh was the charming Windlestraw lodge just outside of Walkerburn on the river Tweed. On the way Christos decided we should visit the ruins of Drochil castle near Peebles. We used google maps to find it which seemed like a great idea, until it did not work! We found a footpath that google maps implied would take us to the ruins but after a half hour hiking up a hill past cows and sheep, all we found was more hills and sheep! We did see a hare bolt away from us which was interesting as they are certainly much larger than rabbits. So it ended up being an hour hike up a hill and back to breathe the fresh air of Scotland while dodging the excessive amounts of sheep poop that was everywhere!We stopped in Peebles for lunch on the way to Windlestraw lodge at an excellent restaurant named "Osso". We enjoyed our soup and sandwiches (an excellent rare roast beef) so much that we ended up coming back the next day for both lunch and dinner!
Speaking of dinner, the two dinners we had at Windlestraw lodge were amazing, and even more so when one considers they were the product of just one cook in he kitchen! We had lamb the first night, then dinner the next evening at Osso, and duck the last evening at Windlestraw. We simply must commend the cook, John, for the magic he wrought in the kitchen. Both evenings included canapés, a fish course, desert and a cheese plate!
Windlestraw lodge itself is a late 19th or early 20th century building constructed by a Scottish industrialist for his son as a wedding gift when he married a member of the Austrian Nobility. As such, it is a large house with rooms for servants (now converted to decent guest rooms) as well as sumptuously appointed public spaces (rich wood paneling, lovely glass etc). Christos was quite enamoured with the animal carvings on one of the staircases; the attention to detail lacking so much in the modern age!
While at Windlestraw, we visited two local castles, Neidpath and Traquair on the same day.
Neidpath is privately owned castle so we had to arrange a tour which ended up being a great boon as it resulted in a private tour! The castle is in decent shape but needing some repair and is used for weddings etc. interestingly, the owner of Neidpath also owns Drochil and we discovered that Google maps had directed us to the wrong side of the river in our previous day's search for Drochil!
Traquair bills itself as Scotland's oldest inhabited house, having been inhabited since the 12th century. The original fortified tower has been expanded and added to several times to create the current structure; the "new" wing dates from the 18th century!
There were some interesting stories associated with Traquair, as the house of a Jacobite family, it house a catholic priest whose room had a secret passage out (the old spiral staircase of the 12th century tower) and a set of gates (the Bear gates) have remained closed since Bony Prince Charlie passed through them, a promise having been made to keep them closed until a Staurt regained the English throne! The old main approach to the house hasten converted into a lawn as a result of the closed Bear Gates. Mary Queen of Scots also stayed here and a crib used by her son, the future James I of England, is a family heirloom.
Traquair also houses a small brewery that produces good beer. The brewery dates for the middle ages and was shutdown more than a hundred years ago but rediscovered inthe1960s by the Laird when doing some serious spring cleaning while preparing Traquair for public viewing. Of course, Christos had to buy a three pack of the local brew which he polished off over the next two days.
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