Silver Staircase, Manderston House, Duns

We had a very interesting visit to Manderston House which is just outside Duns. The first house was built here in the 1790s. It was modernised in the 1870s by Sir William Miller who made his money trading in hemp and herrings. He was the Liberal MP for Leith between 1859 - 1868 and then for Berwickshire in 1873 - 74.  

But it was Sir William's son James that further modernised the house in 1905 to the Edwardian house we see today.  There is a grand entrance hall with marble floors.  The silver staircase (in the photo) took three men three weeks to dismantle, polish and re-assemble!

The house is surrounded by 56 acres of formal and informal gardens.  We were told that in a few weeks the 1500 rhododendrons would give a magnificent display.