Our third outing of 2015 took place on Monday 13th July, with a full day trip to Abbotsford House near Melrose. It was dry as we gathered in Waterloo Place to await our coach. We had a full coach load again, with some pensioners having to be disappointed (in advance) at not getting a place on this outing. After a couple of phone calls, the bus set off almost on time heading for Peebles without one passenger who had got the date wrong, however Christine quickly rectified her mistake and caught up with us in Peebles. It stayed dry while we were in there and we wandered the town, the tea-rooms and the shops until it was time to meet the coach again.
We then headed for Abbotsford House and dropped Sandra off to get the entrance tickets for us. By the time we were all unloading from the bus the rain was just starting and unfortunately got heavier as we split into two groups and headed for our conducted tour of the house. Sir Walter Scot was certainly an avid collector, including books of course but he also had an amoury of weapons and many other artifacts. The rain eased off as we came out of the house, in time for a short wander in the gardens before returning to the coach.
Our next stop was in Melrose town for a wander round the shops, or a quick refreshement for some, before we headed to the Carfraemill Hotel, near Lauder, for our high tea. We then returned to Edinburgh via convenient places to drop people off for their bus home.
Many thanks to Sandra and everyone else involved in organising the day.
