Borthwick Castle stands as one of the most important historic buildings in Scotland, indeed in Europe. A twin towered baronial keep, built by the first Lord Borthwick in 1430, whose sepulchre can still be seen with that of his lady in the old village church.

It was to this castle in 1567 that Mary Queen of Scots, surely one of the most tragic and enigmatic women of all time and her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, fled from Edinburgh to seek sanctuary in this impregnable fortress. It was here that she and Bothwell spent their final days of freedom before being separated forever. She was to die upon the scaffold and he to die in a Danish prison after leaving the safety of Borthwick.

Today guests can relax in the elegantly proportioned State Room and stay in the bedchambers, once occupied by the tragic Queen and the ill-fated Bothwell.