Mellerstain – Terraces, a Lake and a Thatched Cottage
A few hours.
The route
Mellerstain is Robert Adam's great house near Gordon, set in a hundred acres of parkland with Italianate terraces stepping down to a lake and the Cheviot Hills beyond.
The garden walks lead past borders and yews, an old statue of Mercury and a tiny thatched cottage hidden among the beeches. It's a lovely, easy-going wander for garden lovers and families, and dogs are welcome.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is The House in the Hill, 14 miles away. Sleeps 4; next free Thu 29 Oct to Sat 31 Oct.
The day
Mellerstain
Down the terraces to the lake, then out along the woodland walks to find the little thatched cottage.
About two hours
Mellerstain House
An attraction
Mellerstain is signposted from the A6089 between Kelso and Gordon, and has its own car park with accessible spaces. The gardens and grounds open every day of the year from 11am to 5pm. A day ticket is £8 for adults at the time of writing, with children free, and when the café is shut you pay at the honesty box. The house is shut from 1 October until Good Friday, so out of season this is a garden visit. Below the house, Sir Reginald Blomfield's Italianate terraces of 1910, with herbaceous borders and yews, step down to a sweeping lawn and the lake. Pick up the map of the woodland and lakeside walks and look for the statue of Mercury, there since the plans of 1725. In the north parkland, among the oaks and beeches, a tiny thatched cottage hides with its own parterre garden. Dogs are welcome, but keep them close: Highland cattle and Hebridean sheep graze the park. There's a children's play area, and toilets, accessible ones among them. The café opens from April to September, on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Out of season, bring a picnic, or have lunch at the Mainstreet Trading Company in St Boswells, which is shut on Mondays.
If it rains
The gardens and walks are all out in the weather, and from October to Easter the house is shut; on a wet day keep to the terraces and the lawn, and lunch indoors at Mainstreet in St Boswells.
The Mainstreet Trading Company, a restaurant in Saint Boswells.
Photographs by Susan Stanley and Jane Booth via Google