Staying in our “own” Scottish Castle

The reason we had limited time in Alnwick was that we had to get to Peebles in the Scottish Borders. So we could stay in our very own Scottish Castle. Staying in a Scottish castle was very high on my priorty list for our Scotland trip.

I had been looking forward to staying here for almost a year. It was the first accommodation we booked for the whole 6 weeks we were away. I think I had booked this even before our leave from work was approved. Possibly even before we had booked our flight. Or at least just after.

I know I have mentioned before how much I LOVE castles. When I found out that there was about 2000 Scottish castles around and it was also possible to stay in one I was over the moon.

Type of Castle

The Visit Scotland site has some links to unusual properties, but I quickly discovered there is a lot of variation in what type of castle accommodation is available. Many options are more like a hotel room with hardly any historic features. Once you were inside the castle it would be like any other hotel room around the UK.

Cost

Some other Scottish castles are more authentic. Offering options such as Falconry and Archery during your stay. However, these came with a significantly higher cost. They are more like 5-star hotels. Needing 6 weeks of hotel accommodation, we weren’t able to quite stretch our Accommodation budget that far. Although they did look amazing.

Location

Location was also a big factor. I did find a few options on Airbnb that no matter how I rearranged our itinerary I couldn’t put them close to the sites we wanted to see.

Kid Friendly

We had to find a Scottish castle that would allow us to stay with our children. I did find a couple of castles that were on our decided itinerary, authentic and not crazy expensive but the tiny hitch was that no children were allowed. Travelling with an 8 and 5 year old we couldn’t just leave them somewhere else while we stayed in the castle. My parents were travelling around Scotland at the same time and possibly may have been able to look after the girls. But I know that our children would not have forgiven us if we had been living like Scottish Nobles and they were down the road at the local hotel.

Although I will say that our final choice would not be suitable with very young children due to the large amounts of steep stairs.

The Perfect Option

Finally, I found Barn’s Tower, part of the Neidpath Castle estate. Apparently, it is also on Airbnb but I only found out later when I had already booked it directly from the website.

Where was it?

To find Barn’s tower we drove through the town of Peebles and out the other side. We had to drive along single lane roads, including one curved section where they even had traffic lights to allow cars to travel safely. We then turned at the phone box and drove down another single lane road with overhanging trees ( very spooky after dark) to our very own Scottish Castle for 4.

It was everything I had hoped for and more. Built in the last ¼ of the 16^th Century it later sat empty for about 150 years. In 2001 they began a 2-year renovation to bring it back to its former glory.

Technically it is a fortified tower house. It has a solid wooden door and the original Yett. This is an Iron gate, usually behind a wooden door but this was one was unusual as it was on the outside. There is apparently only one other known castle like that and this is possibly one of the oldest of its kind in Scotland.

Great Castle Features

We had a giant Iron key and closed the Yett with a big chain and secured the door with a huge oak block.

Opening the solid door we could smell the years of open fires that had seeped into the stones.

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It had wonderfully worn stone floors in the “vault” and in the kitchen. A spiral staircase extending to 4 floors and even a “secret passageway” between the living room where the girls slept and the attic where the master bedroom was.

It was a very well equipped castle with 2 toilets ( top and bottom of the castle), a kitchen with all the utensils you could need, 2 open fireplaces with wood and kindling, WIFI and even a washer and dryer.

Things to do

We only had 2 nights here but if I had planned better I would have stayed for 4-5 days or more to take advantage of the board games, local walks and exploring the Borders more.

On our last night we invited my parents and cooked dinner and lit the fire. It was a bit smoky, but we certainly felt like Lord and Lady of the manor and our daughters certainly felt like Scottish princesses.

Final Cost

We booked directly on their website and paid 269 GBP for the 2 nights. This was certainly one of the more expensive options on our trip. However, as we had the entire tower to ourselves and it was certainly one of our favourites of the trip I feel it was well worth it.

When the wind was howling outside we felt safe and snug in our 400 year tower. Any one who wants to feel like they really are staying in a Scottish Castle this is certainly the place for you.