Superstition, Theatre, Tricks, Drama, Comedy and stories upon stories… Abbotsford is no ordinary grand country house. More curiously exciting than I could have guessed it would be, my research trip to Abbotsford, the house created by Sir Walter Scott, was intriguing and surprising to say the least, and I’m still discovering its stories…
I wrote a little in my previous post about my coming acorss Abbotsford, by chance in conversation, while visiting Innerpeffray library, near my home in Perthshire. Initially I had been thinking of basing a project around Innerpeffray alone, visualising the library on the map and thinking of creating an illustration of the landscape, drawing the library and its stories into the design. But when Abbotsford came into the picture, I immediately saw the links between the sites. Abbotsford; The site of the origin of these great Stories of Scotts at one end of the country in the boarders and then miles away in the north, Innerpeffray; the first public lending library in Scotland, where readers travelled across the land to find Scotts stories there, to read and relish in them. The links between the sites just keep coming…
On looking further into Abbotsford, my interest grew and grew, discovering the extraordinary person behind the literary figure and finding the layers of meaning, honour, romanticism, celebration, showmanship and humour beyond the grand country house exterior. More than being an interesting person, Scott was a rare man indeed for his time, and would stand out if he were here today also. He was someone who opened his doors and home to anyone interested in exploring it from any social level, he planted trees on the land before he built the house and encouraged people to come and walk on his land, whoever they were.
The research at Abbotsford has been incredibly rewarding so far, there is much to write about! I am a little at odds with what to reveal at this stage, I would like to keep some surprises back!
My findings will materialise within the design work that developes from here and I will be sharing more over the next few weeks. Watch this space…