In October I was fortunate to spend an overnight visit at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, in the Scottish Borders region south of Edinburgh. Scott called it Abbotsford because monks from the nearby Melrose Abbey crossed the River Tweed here centuries ago. It is truly a medieval fantasy. Picturesque!

Scott built Abbotsford, with architect William Atkinson, from 1817–23. It is usually described as the Scottish Baronial style, and a “castle-in-miniature.” But forget the labels: this is all Sir Walter Scott, whose contribution to literature is noted for blending fictional imagination with historical fact. Indeed, the house includes some fragments from Melrose Abbey as well as countless medieval weapons and other artifacts.

Funny: Nathaniel Hawthorne visited later and found it to be “no castle, nor even a large manor-house.”

I was interested to find some ‘modern’ features at Abbotsford too. Scott had an early form of gas lighting in his library. And a charming glass-roofed orangery, seen below.