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Edinburgh: Day 4 – Cardrona, Traquair House, reservoirs
A rainy morning so we decided to take a drive to Scotland’s oldest continuously inhabited house at Traquair, deep in the Border country south of Edinburgh. With deep valleys and steep hills carved out by glacial action, the landscape of the region reminded us of parts of Central Otago, although of course the built environment was much older.
This was roughly our route
First stop on the trip was Cardrona, on the banks of the Tweed, famous for its golf course, trout fishing, and more recently, cycle trail built on a disused railway line.
River Tweed
The country house at Traquair was originally built as a hunting lodge in approximately 1107 and was progressively enlarged and redeveloped over the centuries. It is said to be the oldest inhabited house in Scotland. For all of that time it has been owned by the Stuart family and their descendants. Historically the family were fierce supporters of Scotland’s Catholic kings and queens and several senior family members were imprisoned or excommunicated over the years for their ‘rebellious’ Jacobean beliefs.
The final part of our journey took us up to the two impressive reservoirs supplying water to the city of Edinburgh. The reservoir at Megget was formed by building the largest earth embankment dam in the UK.
New Zealand Family History Search 