About Us

The Buccleuch Arms is a charming, privately owned country Hotel with 19 en suite bedrooms in the village of St. Boswells, near Melrose.

The Hotel takes its name from the family who built it. The 5th Duke of Buccleuch was a boy of 13 when he inherited his title in 1819 after his father died unexpectedly in Lisbon. He married the daughter of the Marquess of Bath in 1829 and they lived at Dalkeith House. The Duke ran a pack of hounds at Dalkeith, but he also had a lodge at Eildon near Melrose and decided to build kennels for his hunt nearby. He chose ground near to the village green which bordered the road to Edinburgh and a fine kennels was erected in 1836. The Buccleuch Arms Inn was built alongside “to accommodate the aristocracy of fox-hunting proclivities”. The landlord in 1837 (Pigot’s Directory) was John Reid. There was another Inn on St Boswells green run by widow Ann Thomson who was there in 1837 and in 1851 (she died in 1875).

The proprietor of the hotel in 1841 and 1851 was John Brown, a native of Stow, with his wife Margaret and six children. He also seems to have farmed adjacent land. Mrs Thomson was still at the other Inn at St Boswells green.

Two well-known guests who stayed at the hotel in the 1860’s were Lt. Col. Frederick Peake, known as “Pasha Peake” and William Younger (Brewer), a young man of thirty.

There were a succession of landlords throughout the latter part of the 19th Century and Robert Kerr took over at the start of the New Year.

In 1929 and 1939 Henry Albert Simpson was the proprietor.

The hotel is now family run by owners Billy and Rachael Hamilton who have transformed the Buccleuch Arms in recent years with the aim of making it the Hotel Destination of choice for the Scottish Borders, while preserving the heritage of what is one of the most historic hotels in the area.
Rachael subsequently stood and was elected to the Scottish parliament in 2017 and therefore no longer works at the Inn.

Awards

Scottish Hotel of the Year awards
Breakfast of the Year 2018 – Winner
Breakfast of the Year 2017 – Winner
Scottish Inn of the Year 2015 – Winner
Scottish Inn of the Year 2013 – Winner
Scottish Inn of the Year 2009 – Winner
Scottish Inn of the Year 2008 – Winner

Countryside Alliance Sporting pub of the Year 2017

CIS Excellence Awards
Pub Excellence Winner 2013 – Winner

New Wedding Venue of the Year 2009 – Winner (The Salmon Room)
Real Food Award 2009 – Borders – Winner