Introduction

Dear Viewer,

We bought this property in the autumn of 2005. The house is a standard Victorian country villa built in the 1840s, standing on a steep bluff above the Moffat Water. There was previously a pub on the same site, which the poet Rabbie Burns visited. He is believed to have written the poem 'Willie brewed a peck o' malt' in the pub garden. Maybe he was trying to find an alternative to paying his bar bill with cash.

For us, the principal attraction of the property is the attached 11 acres of ground. This lies between the main Moffat to Selkirk road and the Moffat Water river. It is basically a wide river bank, and much of it is quite sloping. It is well wooded, and was seriously overgrown and neglected when we bought it.

Having developed a garden previously, we wanted to start afresh. This property gave us the perfect carte blanche that we needed. The first year of our occupation was taken up a lot with rebuilding work on the house and outbuildings. In the same time, most of the garden work was cutting back, tidying up, and destroying animal sheds.

We never wanted to copy our previous garden, but to build something over a number of years which fitted the ground and woodlands we had acquired. We knew that we would have to start on this before we retired, since it would take a lot of effort. Since moving, we have been amazed at the variety of trees that we inherited, and the variety of wildflowers that we can find. Those items won't change; instead we will add our own trees, shrubs, plants and bulbs in other areas. There are no hard divisions between the woodland and the garden.

It is also worth adding that this garden borrows the most stunning local scenery as part of the views. Looking downstream or across the river, you might be in the best English parkland, with mature oaks and grassland. Looking upstream towards the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall, you are looking at a suberb Highland view, with hills over 2000 ft above the garden. And of course, the river itself is always there, with the murmur or rush of flowing water.

Please enjoy our website.

Ronnie & Robert