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Scott’s most cherished possession, his home in the Scottish Borders, now joins the world’s most desirable places to stay with a group of friends, extended family, or to book for a glamorous corporate event.
The house has recently been restored at a cost of £12M, the Hope Scott guest wing newly decorated and furnished for guests to enjoy 21st century five star comfort, with 7 bedrooms, ensuite bathrooms, deep sofas, a multitude of cushions, a billiard room and on request, a private chef and butler.
Guests are free to explore and examine Scott’s treasures in the main house, if not to dance in the great man’s dining room
As an extra pleasure, there is a jewel of an exhibition running until November 30th: ‘Turner and Scott, Painter and Poet’, a beautifully put together assembly of rarely seen objects, the story of a relationship between two of our greatest artists. .
J MW Turner stayed at Abbotsford in 1831, made a sketchbook of the rooms, painted the scenery in watercolour, illustrated a lavish edition of Scott’s poetry. Highlight of the show is a ‘lost’ Turner, a small landscape picked up by a private collector for £100, worth at least £200, 000.
Like Charles Dickens, Scott loved parties, dancing after a 10 o’clock supper, and the company of theatre folk. One comic actor and ventriloquist ‘keepet the house in an uproar of laffeter’ every evening during his stay.