苏格兰 Bowhill 家族庄园 – 英国苏格兰边界家族乡村保护庄园

庄园由来：自 1322 年起的 Buccleuch 家族宅邸

鲍希尔庄园（Bowhill House & Country Estate）位于英国苏格兰边界地区（Scottish Borders）的塞尔扣克（Selkirk）以西约三英里处，沿 A708 通往莫弗特与圣玛丽湖的公路一带。庄园是蒙特格·道格拉斯与斯科特家族（Montagu Douglas and Scott）——即巴克卢与昆斯伯里公爵（Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensberry）——的祖传宅邸，而”巴克卢”这个姓氏本身就有十世纪传说：相传国王 Kenneth III 在一片密林深处的溪谷中狩猎时被一头雄鹿逼至险境，一位名叫 John Scott 的侍从徒手抓住鹿角将其按倒、救下国王，从此这一支 Scott 家族便被称作”Buccleuch”，意即”溪谷中的雄鹿”。庄园所在之地原是 1322 年由苏格兰国王罗伯特·布鲁斯（Robert the Bruce）赐给 Scott 家族的埃特里克森林（Ettrick Forest）的一部分；1450 年这片森林重新归王室管辖，约 1550 年再次分到 Scott 家族手中。

庄园建筑：从 1812 年改建到一战二战的庇护所

鲍希尔庄园现存主体建筑的年份主要落在 1812 年，其后由威廉·阿特金森（William Atkinson）、威廉·伯恩（William Burn）和戴维·布赖斯（David Bryce）这几位 19 世纪建筑师陆续扩建、改建而成；庄园与沃尔特·斯科特爵士（Sir Walter Scott）这位远亲兼常客也颇有渊源，他曾在名作《最后吟游诗人之歌》（The Lay of the Last Minstrel）里把这里称作”甜蜜的鲍希尔”。庄园在第一次世界大战期间被征用为军用医院，1939 至 1945 年间又被军队占用，战争结束后一度因干腐与年久失修而陷入困境；之后数十年间，由家族投入与技艺工匠、志愿者协作，才把这座 A 类保护建筑重新修复成型：18 世纪手绘中国壁纸、知名画作和数千册藏书都被完好地保留下来供后人参观。

园林景观：Gilpin 的”如画”设计与两个湖泊

庄园周围被列为英国苏格兰历史环境局（Historic Environment Scotland）的”设计景观”（Designed Landscape），主要由 18 世纪末至 19 世纪初的几代巴克卢公爵委托建造，承担设计的是被称作”如画式改良者”（picturesque improver）的 W. S. Gilpin，他的设计也深受沃尔特·斯科特爵士在阿伯茨福德（Abbotsford）的造园理念影响。庄园前部由规整的台地花园组成——玫瑰园、宿根花境与岩石园依次排开，并保留一片杜鹃花与石南花为主的自然式种植区，每年春季成片水仙在草地上盛放；步道向东延伸至下沉花园（Sunken Garden），此处正被打造成一处小型树木园。庄园后方的整片设计景观则更具自然气息：两个湖泊、贯穿林间的远景视线，以及名为”女士步道”（Lady’s Walk）和”公爵夫人车道”（Duchess’ Drive）的两条步道，把林地、河道与草地串成开放式的游览环路。

收藏与体验：Buccleuch 艺术收藏与五百年传承

鲍希尔庄园是巴克卢艺术收藏（Buccleuch Collection）的存放地之一，这一收藏由蒙特格·道格拉斯与斯科特家族经过五个世纪、几代人累积而成，被公认为英国最重要的私人艺术收藏之一。庄园常年陈列卡纳莱托（Canaletto）、雷诺兹（Reynolds）、雷本（Raeburn）和庚斯博罗（Gainsborough）的画作，麦森（Meissen）和塞夫尔（Sèvres）瓷器、法国与德国家具、挂毯与银器也按厅室布置；其中一间专门留给家族的远亲沃尔特·斯科特爵士，讲述这位苏格兰文豪与巴克卢家族绵延数十年的亲密关系。庄园现今归巴克卢生活遗产信托（Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust，简称 BLHT）管理——这家在苏格兰注册、专门负责庄园保护与公众教育的慈善机构把所有门票收入都用于保护工作；庄园也由此获得了 VisitScotland 五星评级，并被列入 A 类保护建筑名单（Category A listed）。

游览与服务：步道、节庆与老厨房茶室

庄园每年向公众开放的时间有限：建筑内部仅在五一劳动节周末、夏季八月以及团体预约时安排维多利亚家居之旅（Victorian Home Tour）；周边园林、林间步道、冒险乐园（Adventure Playground）、老厨房茶室（Old Kitchen Café）、下沉展厅（Soft Play）和维多利亚厨房（Victorian Kitchen）则在复活节周末、夏季和秋季的周末与银行假日开放，并有专门为万圣节、维多利亚五月节（Victorian May Day）等节庆策划的活动。访客可以在 A708 公路旁的 General’s Bridge 停车场全年进出”边界庄园”（Borders Estate）区段，付费停车后即可沿着女士步道与公爵夫人车道漫步；庄园本身不允许车辆进入，但园方为残障访客提供一部轮椅、为剧场访客提供听力环路。庄园现也设有两套度假公寓、团体参观接待和婚宴预订服务，方便访客在白天游览之外留宿一夜。

官网：https://www.bowhillhouse.co.uk/

Origin: The Buccleuch Family Seat Since 1322

Bowhill House & Country Estate lies about three miles west of Selkirk, off the A708 road to Moffat and St Mary’s Loch, in the heart of the Scottish Borders. It is the ancestral seat of the Montagu Douglas and Scott family, the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensberry, whose name itself traces to a tenth-century legend: during a royal hunt King Kenneth III was cornered by a buck in a deep cleuch, and a young attendant named John Scott seized the animal by the antlers and wrestled it to the ground, saving the king’s life — from that day the family was known as Buccleuch (bəˈklu), “the buck from the ravine.” The estate occupies part of the medieval Ettrick Forest, granted by King Robert the Bruce to the Scott clan in 1322 in recognition of their loyalty; the forest reverted to the Crown in 1450 and was redistributed to members of the Scott family around 1550.

Architecture: A Country House Rebuilt in 1812 and Tested by Two World Wars

The present house at Bowhill dates mainly from 1812 and was extended and remodelled through the nineteenth century by William Atkinson, William Burn and David Bryce, three architects of the Scottish country-house tradition. Sir Walter Scott, a kinsman and frequent visitor, admired the house so much that he christened it “Sweet Bowhill” in his poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel. During the First World War the house was requisitioned as a military hospital, and the Army occupied it again between 1939 and 1945; the post-war decades brought dry rot and general decay, and it took generations of family commitment together with skilled craftsmen and volunteers to restore the Category A listed building, preserving eighteenth-century hand-painted Chinese wallpapers, important paintings and thousands of books for future generations.

Landscape: Gilpin’s Picturesque Design and Two Lochs

The wider Bowhill estate is included on Historic Environment Scotland’s inventory of Designed Landscapes (GDL00065), with the late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century schemes laid out by several generations of Dukes of Buccleuch, under the guidance of W. S. Gilpin, the “picturesque improver” whose approach was also shaped by Sir Walter Scott’s work at nearby Abbotsford. In front of the house, formal terraces lead through a rose garden, herbaceous borders and a rock garden, while less formal plantings of rhododendrons, azaleas and naturalised daffodils drift across the lawn; east of the house the Sunken Garden is being developed as a small arboretum. Beyond the formal terraces the landscape opens out into two designed lochs, sweeping vistas, and the way-marked Lady’s Walk and Duchess’ Drive, all of which are open to walkers for most of the year.

Collections: The Buccleuch Collection Across Five Centuries

Bowhill is home to part of the internationally renowned Buccleuch Collection, built up over five centuries by the Montagu Douglas and Scott forebears of the Dukes of Buccleuch and is recognised as one of the most important private collections in the country. Walls are lined with masterworks by Canaletto, Reynolds, Raeburn and Gainsborough, complemented by Meissen and Sèvres porcelain, French and German furniture, tapestries and silver — including a massive candelabra by Robert Garrard that records the origin of the Buccleuch title. One room is devoted to the family’s kinsman Sir Walter Scott, charting his phenomenal rise to fame and the Buccleuchs’ close friendship with him. Today the estate is cared for by the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust (BLHT), a registered Scottish charity that reinvests every admission pound in conservation and education; under this stewardship Bowhill holds a VisitScotland five-star quality assurance rating and sits on the Category A listed-building register.

Visiting: Trails, Seasonal Events and the Old Kitchen Café

Bowhill is open to visitors on a seasonal schedule: the house itself receives guided Victorian Home Tours over the May Day holiday weekend, through August and by group booking all year round, while the grounds, woodland walks, Adventure Playground, Old Kitchen Café, Soft Play and Victorian Kitchen are open over Easter weekends, summer weekends and bank holidays, plus special Halloween and Victorian May Day events. The wider Borders Estate can be reached year-round from the General’s Bridge car park off the A708, with a small parking fee and self-guided access to the Lady’s Walk and Duchess’ Drive. Accessibility provisions include one wheelchair for house tours and a hearing loop in the Bowhill Theatre; the estate also offers two holiday apartments, group and private-event catering, and wedding bookings so that a visit can be extended into an overnight stay.

Official Site: https://www.bowhillhouse.co.uk/