Hermitage Castle

Hermitage Castle is a ruin which is not easily accessible to everyone with its boggy and uneven ground and lots of steps. It can however be seen from the road.

It is an eerie place with a history of torture and treason. Visitors can find out about its role as ‘guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain’, its connection to Mary Queen of Scots, Sir Walter Scott, the Douglases, the king’s butler – Nicholas de Soules and his descendants, its place in the history of the Scottish Middle March and more.

Photographers will have opportunities for awesome dark pictures, wildlife lovers can look out for ospreys and history lovers can try their hand at the quiz on offer.  It was originally built around 1240 and its history stretches through the 14th and 15th centuries.