Cringletie House

Cringletie House stands amid its own gardens a short distance from Peebles in the Scottish Borders, and the mansion visitors encounter today is the second house to occupy this particular estate. Sir Alexander Murray of Black Barony obtained a royal charter to the land in 1666 and built the first Cringletie House for his second son, establishing the family's presence on this property in the late 17th century. That original house did not survive intact into the modern era: by the mid-19th century, it had fallen into ruin, a fate shared by many smaller Scottish country houses of its generation that were superseded by grander Victorian rebuildings elsewhere on the same land.

The estate's owner at that point, Brigadier General James Wolfe Murray, responded to the ruined state of the old house with genuine ambition. In 1863, he commissioned David Bryce — one of the most sought-after and prolific Scottish architects of the Victorian era — to design an entirely new mansion on the estate. Bryce's design gave Cringletie its recognisable Baronial character: corner turrets, imposing proportions and the confident historicist styling that made Bryce such a dominant figure in 19th-century Scottish country house architecture. Cringletie marks Bryce's third appearance within this pilot collection alone, following his work on Glenapp Castle on the Ayrshire coast and his 1819 expansion of Carberry Tower in East Lothian — a genuine testament to just how extensively Bryce's practice shaped the grand domestic architecture of Victorian Scotland across the entire country, from the west coast to the Borders and beyond.

Cringletie today operates as a 4 AA Silver Star country house hotel, a rating that reflects a particular tier of quality recognition distinct from the standard star classification, with 14 individually decorated guestrooms offering a genuinely boutique scale compared to some of the larger properties in this collection. The house's public rooms retain the character and proportions of Bryce's original design, giving guests and visitors alike a strong sense of Victorian country house grandeur throughout.

That access extends explicitly beyond overnight guests. Afternoon tea is served daily from 2:30 to 5pm in either the Maguire Lounge or the Conservatory, both offering views over Cringletie's gardens, at £18.50 per person — a price point and format confirmed as open to non-residents as well as hotel guests, making Cringletie one of the more reliably and explicitly public-facing properties in this collection for anyone wanting a Borders afternoon tea experience without booking a room.

Set within easy reach of Peebles and the wider Tweed valley, and sharing this stretch of the Scottish Borders with several other properties documented in this collection — including Neidpath Castle and Thirlestane Castle, both within a short drive — Cringletie makes a natural addition to any itinerary built around the region's dense concentration of historic houses, towers and castles, whether the draw is an overnight stay, a Borders afternoon tea, or simply an appreciation for David Bryce's considerable and recurring architectural legacy across this pilot's properties.

The surrounding gardens are themselves a notable feature of a Cringletie visit, with a walled garden dating from the estate's earlier history that predates Bryce's Victorian mansion, offering a layered sense of the property's evolution across more than three and a half centuries — from the original 1666 house, through its ruin, to Bryce's 1863 reconstruction, and into its present life as a boutique country house hotel.