Floors Castle

The magnificent Floors Castle stands just outside the handsome town of Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Some elements of the original tower house that once stood here may be incorporated into the current mansion. The castle, as seen today, dates from the 1720s and was designed by William Adam who was commissioned by John Kerr, 1st Duke of Roxburgh; it was then remodelled in the 1830s by William Playfair. Floors remains the largest inhabited house in Scotland. To the front of the castle stands the holly tree which is said to mark the spot where King James II was killed when a cannon exploded during his siege of Roxburgh Castle in 1640. The King was dead, but Roxburgh was eventually taken by the Scots, ending a century of English domination. One legend about Roxburgh Castle states that the castle would only fall to a dead man. The castle was used in the filming of Tarzan of Greystoke in 1984 and it was here, in 1986, that Prince Andrew proposed to Sarah Ferguson. The castle and grounds are open to the public.