Booked New Year 2013/14

Print property details

Refurbished and stylish large holiday home in the Scottish Borders

Branxholm is an impressive, traditional country house full of period charm situated in the beautiful Teviot valley approximately three miles from the Scottish Borders town of Hawick. It is conveniently located for access to Edinburgh, where there is an international airport. However, it is ideal family holiday house with oodles for children to do from playing in the amazing fort in the gardens, swings and indoor games plus the opportunity to accompany the owner to feed the ducks, hens, ponies and goats!

The house has been successfully used as a wedding venue and the owner can assist with the catering arrangements. Indeed, in the months of November and December, a FREE meal for up to 16 people is included in the rental. With the house already decorated for Christmas by this time, with a 4 metre high tree, this is the perfect location for that pre-Christmas family or company celebration.

However, despite its elegance as a country house, it is also a very comfortable family home where the owners have ensured that children are just as welcome as adults and where they are provided with plenty of outdoor and indoor play facilities, including three swings, a 12-foot trampoline, Robin Hood forts and an elevated playhouse with slide. There is a purpose-built barbecue area for outdoor cooking, and a 'secret garden' to explore.

Hawick is a market town sitting on the picturesque Teviot River. It offers a wide range of local amenities, including many restaurants and attractive shops selling local produce. The recently opened Heart of Hawick attraction boasts a state-of-the-art restaurant, cinema, theatre, family history archive facility and local history centre, and Drumlanrig's Tower is a fun tourist attraction with life-size figures portraying the life of the Border Reivers. Hawick Leisure Centre has the largest swimming pool in the Borders and includes flume slides for children.

The surrounding countryside provides a wide variety of sport and leisure opportunities, including fishing, shooting, walking and horse-riding. The Borders are very well provided with a wide variety of excellent golf courses - hilly, level and riverside included. The low cost and easy availability will be a new and very welcome experience for those coming from abroad or the overcrowded south. You can purchase a 'Freedom of the Fairways' ticket, which gives access to no less than 21 of them in the area, the nearest being in Hawick.

Mountain biking is well catered for, and within easy reach is the famous Glentress Forest course near Peebles, which has been rated as one of the best courses in Europe, and also the Innerleithen downhill course for the really brave!

Branxholm Castle lies a short distance to the south-east, whilst Goldielands Tower, a conspicuous 16th-century watchtower, dominates the surrounding area. Craik Forest, reputedly the largest man-made woodland in Europe, is only a few miles distant.

The house has been beautifully refurbished and offers a comfortable and relaxing but charming, traditional family house for the larger party. It is situated only two miles from the village of Newmill where there is a pub/restaurant and garage. The River Teviot, well known to anglers, runs through the valley beneath the house. Slightly further away is Alemoor Loch, where there is good trout fishing, and there is plenty of scope for walking and riding in the surrounding hills.

The owners occupy the wing of the house (no interior connection) and are there to assist you if required. The owners can offer babysitting (qualified child-minder), catering and additional housekeeping. They also keep horses, pygmy goats, ducks and hens which are always a hit with children in the party.