TRAQUAIR HOUSE

 Traquair is the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland, and is still very much a family home.It is not known when the exact foundations of the house were laid but a substantial structure must have existed by 1107 when Alexander 1 of Scotland signed a royal charter at Traquair. At this time the castle was used as a hunting lodge for royalty and also as a base where they could administer justice, issue laws and hold courts. At Traquair, many charters still exist. One, signed in 1175 authorised William the Lion to found a Bishop's Burgh with a right to hold a market on Thursday. This small hamlet was later to become the City of Glasgow.

During this period Traquair was nestled in the middle of the vast Ettrick Forest and provided a superb venue for royal hunting parties who came to hunt wild cat, wolves, deer, wild boar and bears who roamed the forest. A mural painting in the Museum dating back to the early 1500's depicts some of these early hunting scenes.
After the death of Alexander III in 1286 the peaceful life of the Borders was shattered by the Wars of Independence. Traquair became one of the many fortified towers or peles that were built along the banks of the Tweed. When the alarm was raised they could communicate to each other by lighting a beacon at the top of the tower and alert the neighbours of an English invasion. Traquair was briefly occupied by English troops but returned to the Crown with the accession of Robert the Bruce in 1306.
More peaceful times eventually returned to Traquair in the15th century and when James III succeeded in 1460 he gave Traquair to his current favourite Robert Lord Boyd, but when the gift was not appreciated he gave the castle to his favourite court musician, William Rogers. However, he held Traquair for only nine years when he was persuaded to sell it to the Earl of Buchan for the paltry sum of 70 Scots merks (£3 15s).
The Earl of Buchan, a half uncle to the king then gave Traquair to his second son James Stewart who became the first Laird of Traquair in 1491. Since this date the house has remained in the same family.

There are nearly 100 acres of grounds and woodlands to wander, as well as a brewery, a cafe in the old walled garden, and various craft works.

The maze (below) was planted in 1980 with over 1500 Leylandii Cypresses. But a severe winter in 1981 caused the death of 2/3 or them. The maze was replanted with beech.

The gates to the house stand open. However - at the other end of the long vista, the main drive, are another pair of gates, the Bear Gates, that are permanently locked, and will remain so until a Stuart monarch sits once again upon the throne of Scotland.

A little extra info (picture from the Traquair House web-site) - in one of the rooms upstairs on the top floor,  is a cupboard, with a space below the shelves inside, no higher than waist height. It was designed as an escape route for firstly, catholic priests, and later for Jacobite refugees. 

If you crawl into it, you will find yourself at the top of a steep, twisting staircase that leads down to the ground floor and out through a small side door, passing behind a false wall. This priest-hole and stairwell has a very spooky atmosphere ;)