Chesters

A modest Palladian mansion located within a productive estate in the Scottish Borders, Chesters lies on the north bank of the River Teviot, 2 miles (3 km) southwest of Ancrum and 2½ miles (4 km) west northwest of Jedburgh. The A-listed house dates from 1790, the work of local architect William Elliot (1761 - 1830), and comprises a two storey seven-bay block, with an attic, central pediment featuring a Doric porch, and small flanking pavilions to both sides. Little altered since it was built for Thomas Elliott Ogilvie, who bought the estate in 1787 when he returned to Scotland having spent his career in the Indian Civil Service, the house passed down through the Ogilvie family, until 1932, when it was briefly rented to John Kennedy, an owner of Jenners Department Store in Edinburgh. The family soon returned and Chesters remains in their hands today. The house and its owners featured in the Channel 4 documentary Country House Rescue in 2008, which brought about the development of the Scottish Borders Brewery and a retreat for actors, as money-making ventures to fund a much-needed restoration of the property and ensure its future maintenance. Inside there is a spacious central hall gives access to a set of well-proportioned rooms, with a stair to the rear.

There is a substantial stable-court of similar date and style to the house, together with a walled garden. The estate extends to 633 ha (1565 acres) and includes five mixed farms and fourteen cottages.

Chesters should not be confused with a hamlet of the same name located 7½ miles (12 km) to the south.


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