A commutable castle in 12 acres, with turrets, cinema room and hot tub

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‘Few architectural styles get the pulse racing quite like Scots Baronial,’ wrote James Fisher of Borthwick Hall when it came to the market three years ago. ‘I can feel my blood quickening as I type.’

As well it might have done. This landmark Scottish Baronial mansion is set in just under 12 acres of formal gardens, grounds and paddocks in a secluded woodland valley to the south of Heriot village, 18½ miles from Edinburgh city centre. Today, it’s up for sale once more, with Andrew Thomson of Savills in Edinburgh quoting a guide price of £2.25 milliion for this Category C-listed home — and to say the place has changed over those three years is putting it mildly indeed. More on that later.

Borthwick Hall was built in 1852 by the prolific Scottish architect John Henderson, who, although best known for his Gothic Revival church architecture, designed a relatively small number of villas and estates that blended practicality with picturesque elements.

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With its harled walls, bartizaned tower, crow-stepped gables, corbelled turrets and fine interiors with timber-panelled rooms and ceilings inspired by 16th-century motifs, Borthwick Hall is a supreme example of both the practical and the picturesque.

It was always a fine house on the inside as well as outside (you can see the full article from 2023 here) but it’s now become an exotic and striking family home, full of the sort of colour schemes, design elements and little touches you’d expect of a boutique hotel. This comparison of then-and-now gives a nice idea about the extent of the work.

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Beautifully renovated by its current owner, the house offers more than 11,000sq ft of impressive living space, with beautifully preserved original features.

The grand spaces at Borthwick include a dramatic double-height reception hall and a fine staircase that demonstrates exquisite timber craftsmanship.

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It has all the rooms you’d expect to find in a house this size — drawing room, study, dining room, huge family kitchen — but also many extras, from the music room and the cinema room to a huge garden room that houses a hot tub in one corner.

There are seven bedrooms in total, one of which is set up as a separate flat, with spiral staircase from living area to a bedroom mezzanine above. It makes this house a fine choice for multi-generational living, or for those wanting self-contained guest space.

And you’ll be likely to have plenty of guests, come to think of it, since Borthwick is in a wonderful location that’s peaceful, rural, and accessible. It is a 10-mile journey north-east as the crow flies from Eddleston to the quiet, small village of Heriot at the foot of the Moorfoot Hills, which run in a north-easterly direction from Peebles to Tynehead in Midlothian.

According to Thomson, commuting from the area to the Scottish capital has been much enhanced following the reopening of the Borders Railway in September 2015, with stations at nearby Gorebridge, Newtongrange and Eskbank providing regular services to Edinburgh Waverley, a journey time of less than half an hour.

Borthwick Hall is for sale via Savills — see more details.

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