Where the writers roamed

Let the scenery and wildlife of these four Scottish estates inspire you

- Penny Churchill

NOW, more than ever, the ‘ageless hills and waters’ of the Tweed Valley, inspiration for writers such as John Buchan and Sir Walter Scott, are attracting buyers to the Scottish Borders, says James Denne of Knight Frank, who moved there from Kent more than 30 years ago. ‘People who come here, particularly from the South of England, are blown away by the clean air, clear skies and overall quality of life that we enjoy in this most accessible region of Scotland,’ he declares.

Today, Mr Denne is overseeing the launch of the spectacular, 3,884-acre Stobo estate, located some six miles upstream from the Royal Burgh of Peebles, where the River Tweed meanders through a landscape of rich lowland pasture scattered with hillside woodlands and flanked by heather-clad, round-topped hills. Knight Frank (0131–222 9600) expects offers ‘in excess of £12 million’ for the estate as a whole, or in seven lots.

Historically, the estate was part of the lands of nearby Stobo Castle, the seat of an ancient barony re-granted to Sir John Maitland, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, in 1587. Over the following century, ownership alternated between opposing sets of Stuart allies— Maitland’s descendants, the Earls of Lauderdale and the Dukes of Lennox and Richmond, favoured kinsmen of the English kings James I, Charles I and Charles II. After the Glorious Revolution, the barony passed to the Murrays, wealthy baronets who supported the Jacobite cause and forfeited lands and titles in the wake of the 1745 Rebellion.