abbotsford house

JeffB676

I visited Abbotsford Visitor Centre on 10th Feb, and found the exhibition to be quite interesting. Prior to the visit I knew very little about Sir Walter Scott, and learnt a lot about the man, his life and his work. There are some good artefacts to see, and it is well presented. Unfortunately, at the time of our visit the house and gardens were not open, but we knew this before visiting. There is a nice restaurant on the upper floor with good views of the house and the grounds, however in my opinion it is quite expensive - for example a ham and tomato sandwich with a few crisps was £7.00 and haddock, chips and peas is £12.00, although this may just be the average price for this type of attraction, but seemed expensive in my opinion.

richardaH7008UD

The house and gardens are well worth a visit but this review is about the brilliant cheese scones in the visitor centre. Ochiltree dining is well worth a visit anyway but their cheese scones are so good that we made a return visit just to repeat the experience.

paulhZ7448KV

For some reason I'd always imagined Abbotsford to be a rather stuffy stately home with little that would be of interest to the likes of me - but how wrong I was! Entry is by a modern visitor centre with exhibition space, well-stocked shop and a lovely restaurant on the first floor, with a covered verandah the length of the building, affording splendid views of the house itself, and the surrounding hills and woodland. The extensive gardens have much to please the eye and nose - right down to the potting sheds (not open to the public) which can also be viewed to the rear of the walled garden. The house itself has numerous public rooms on the ground floor, many of which are highly decorated and give a real insight to the life of their famous occupant; as does the chapel at the side. Easily accessible by public and private transport, this is well worth a day trip from Edinburgh, or beyond.

AlexBennett

I have visited many visitor centres and attractions but I rate this one highly on many counts. Great food at a reasonable price and great views from the restaurant of Abbotsford House and grounds. The exhibition puts the story of Sir Walter Scott into perspective and is not too long with the talking heads (real ones!) at the end gives a lovely insight into the importance of Sir Walter and his place in Scottish literary history. The shop was well stocked with tasteful items and the woodland walks are especially nice and especially in autumn with the most colourful russets, golds and yellows. Well worth a return visit.

moje048

the house and grounds,were closed for the winter,but the visitor's center was open, plenty of information available, the history of the purchase by Sir Walter Scott and how he rebuilt the place

sandie941

Have visited Abbotsford House many times and it is well worth a visit, the new Visitor centre has an exhibition, gift shop and restaurant. The afternoon tea is a must have, It has a good menu and the view from the terrace shows the house and garden. Can be busy at times but worth the wait.

mintmoocher

Staying with family in the Borders we decided to vist Abbotsford house. This was a great idea the house is intereasting, as Sir Walter Scott is the man responsible for the popular Tartan , tam o'shanter and Shortbread version of Scotland, sold around the world today. However the house which was almost his downfall is a wonderful georgian creation of a man who lived as much in his imagination as in reality. In addition tothe house there is a good eatery and excellent eatery. The 6 year old was provided with her own audio guide and a worksheet to draw and discover about the house.

MrSmokeyMountainMan

Upon first arrival here we were notified that a special event was taking place and that we couldn't do the tour. We came back later that afternoon for our visit. Although there are beautiful grounds and no doubt interesting rooms to tour, we were limited to only a few rooms beyond the entrance to the estate. I was disappointed that there wasn't more to see after waiting all day to get in. Not worth what we paid to tour.

pjl47

The house has been revamped, It has an amazing dinning room Also visitor centre. Alas Dame Jean, and Mrs Patricia Maxwell Scott, 6 great grand daughtersdown the lime.

KiwiTraveller1953

Abbotsford was the first borders house visited and the opportunity to visit a number of furnished rooms plus the commentary on the voicebox made for an informative visit

MargaretP

We visited this attraction and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. The visitors centre was excellent with an interesting exhibition about the life and work of Sir Walter Scott. There was a pleasant gift shop and an excellent restaurant which had a reasonably priced, extensive menu. The toilets were immaculate and well above the usual standard.The house itself was very interesting and the audio guides were the best found in many visits( a point and listen system when you wanted more information). Due to the vagaries of Scottish weather we were unable to explore the grounds and gardens but it gives us a reason to return!Excellent day out

michieg121

Really enjoyed this and one of the best historic houses we have visited. Staff were excellent, and there is an excellent cafe/restaurant available after touring the house and gardens.

allanedgar

New visitors centre is excellent and sets up the visits to the house. The tapes carried around to describe the house were very well done and the house is in lovely condition. Staff were very friendly.

tuckswood

well worth a look but didnt have time to go in the house.lovely gardens and surrounding area.visitors centre too with food and drinks and gift shop.

Vogy

My wife and I detoured to Abbotsford House on the way out of Scotland and are very glad that we did!We've been to many grand houses and castles around the UK and found that this one differed greatly from others in the sense of fun in the grandeous architecture and the real feel of being primarily a family home as opposed to some dusty mausoleum that had never been inhabited. The separate visitors centre also has a great introductory animation/video about Sir Walter Scott for those, like us, that don't know much about him.