Accessing Scotland's Past Project
Event ID 562608
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Accessing Scotland's Past Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/562608
Woodside House and its grounds lie on the eastern outskirts of Kelso, and was probably built around 1800 for Lady Diana Scott of Harden as a dower house for herself and her daughter Anne. Known to all as 'Lady Di', she lived at Woodside until her death in 1827 at the age of 94.
Rectangular on plan, the house is fairly simple in its design and stands two storeys high with attic and basement. Viewed from the south, a plain pediment tops the slightly projecting central bay, giving the entrance greater prominence. The most striking feature of the interior is a wide stone spiral staircase, from the entrance hall to the first floor, while its drawing room was furnished with several decorative features typical of the Regency period. A fine, fluted chimneypiece and wainscoting can still be seen at Woodside, which is now a hotel. The small single-storeyed summerhouse built against the west wall of the house probably dates from the mid-nineteenth century.
Among the visitors to Woodside was Lady Diana's relative and near neighbour Sir Walter Scott. Woodside House remained with the Scott family until 1903, when it was sold to a local lawyer and his family.
Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project
