BUS TRIP TO KELSO & FLOORS CASTLE

Date: Saturday 28th June 2008

Our bus left the Adam Smith Theatre at 9.30am and headed south towards the Borders, stopping for a coffee break just outside Edinburgh.
Our first port of call was...

Kelso
The Farmers Market was taking place in the centre of Kelso in front of the Town Hall. We had some time to look around the market, shops and the nearby Abbey.

The Abbey must have been an impressive structure in its day.
The 7th Duke of Roxburghe is buried in a railed off section.

It is the Roxburghe family who have lived in Floors Castle for many generations.

Premier Travel provided the bus and driver who had a young assistant.


On arrival at the castle a guide told us something of its history of the building and the Roxburghe family.

It was built in 1721 to the design of William Adam, father of Robert Adam the famous architect who was born in Kirkcaldy.

The wings were added, along with turrets and other embellishments by William Playfair the Edinburgh architect.

One of the Roxburghe family, Duchess May, made many interior alterations. She was an American heiress of French descent who brought tapestries and a collection of fine art to the castle.

In 1460 King James II of Scotland was laying seige at Roxburgh Castle. The photo shows an encircled tree that was planted to mark the site where the King died when one of his own cannons exploded as he examined it.

Earlier that same year he had ordered that Ravenscraig Castle in Kirkcaldy be built.