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Hirsel Estate & Homestead Museum, The

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Hirsel Estate & Homestead Museum, The Summary

 

Hirsel Estate & Homestead Museum, The Description

Set in the beautiful Scottish Borders, the Hirsel Estate and Homestead Museum can be found on the western outskirts of Coldstream, which marks the border between Scotland and England. It is open all year during daylight hours and provides an excellent location for a family day out.

There is something for everyone at the Park, a variety of walks by lakeside, river and through the grounds of the Hirsel Estate, along the way catching sight of the well known Douglas pedigree Highland Cattle and many forms of wildlife on the lake.

Within the Estate grounds is the Homestead complex incorporating the Museum and Arts and Crafts Centre, the Cottage Tearoom and the Crafthouse Gallery. There is also a small children's play area and picnic site. The museum aims to introduce visitors to what can be seen and heard as they explore the Estate and to provide some historical background so they can appreciate better how people lived and worked in the past. More information is available on their Website .

The Tearoom is open most of the year to serve visitors with quality cooked foods, including Sunday lunches, and delicious home baking. Coach parties are welcome by appointment - Tel: +44 (0)1890 883645.

While the Hirsel House is not open to the public, during all seasons of the year, the grounds have much to offer the visitor who values the peace and ever changing beauty of the countryside. Today the Estate covers some 3,000 acres and is run as a commercial farming and forestry enterprise.

There are five colour coded walks, which take you along a variety of routes through the Estate. One takes you by the Hirsel lake, which is one of the largest manmade expanses of water in the area and provides a home to geese, swans, moorhens, coots, ducks and grebes. There is a hide situated on the bank of the lake for the avid birdwatcher to use. On the Estate map of 1760, the area of lake was shown as a moss. Soon after this it was excavated and the resulting body of water was stocked with pike. These were fished out in the 1920s and the lake is now filled with eels and perch.

Another walk takes you to the famous Dundock Wood with its kaleidoscopic colouring and breathtaking scents from the collection of rhododendron and azaleas, this wood being at its best in May and June. The wood is perhaps the most bizarre part of the Estate. A severe storm on the night of 14th October 1881 resulted in the destruction of an area of woodland next to the Greenlaw Road.

A family member suggested that the now largely bare area might look good planted with rhododendrons. Undaunted by the prospect of planting acid loving plants into an alkaline soil, the plan went ahead. To overcome the soil problem, peat was imported from the Bonkyl Estate, then owned by the Home family, involving endless 24 hour round trips with horses and carts. This painstaking process took some time but was well worth it.

Opening Times - 2012

  • Open all year, during daylight hours

Admission Prices - 2012

  • Free Entry
  • No Coach Parties facilities

Further information including opening times and prices

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Additional Info for Hirsel Estate & Homestead Museum, The

  • YesOpen All Year
  • YesParks
  • YesGardens
  • YesGroups
  • YesPlaygrounds
  • YesDogs allowed
  • YesDisabled Access
  • YesRefreshments
  • YesPicnics
  • YesMeals Available
  • YesFilming
  • YesGifts
  • YesShop
  • YesCar Parking

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