Robin Girdwood would like to extend a warm welcome to all guests of The Old Priory, my home, not a hotel and to the beautiful town of Kelso, the cobbled town, in the heart of the Scottish Borders. Kelso is striving to be recognised as the Well -Being centre of the Borders and to that end we try to provide a calm, comfortable relaxing home from home. Herbal teas, books and the garden should help your break away. My aim is to provide a pleasant stay in an informal setting, friendly, relaxed and hopefully restful. As I am now in semi retirement I encourage guests who respect that I am not aiming to be a business but a home that accepts like minded visitors, the B and B aspect keeps the roof on!. I only accept pleasant people to my home.

Many people mistake us for a hotel but that is just the vision that the building gives, we are a private home giving people a chance to live differently for a few days. We offer a wide range of rooms, ground floor doubles, one with a bath and shower , one with a lowered shower for those not so mobile, a Family room with two rooms and a Jack and Jill bathroom (a superb room as a twin) and the Library is splendid in size and comfort. I love living here and want people to come and enjoy what I have (but only if you’re nice!) We also have a lovely guest conservatory with underfloor heating and Knole sofas.

We have been Pick of the Town in Lonely Planet and Rough Guide for many years and are No.1 on reviews from Kelso TripAdvisor (18 yrs). Frommers in the US lists us as the only place to stay in Kelso and although we have used Booking.com, Hotels.com and Expedia, we prefer to go it alone as we get more initial contact and more discerning guests through our own site.

The Borders is a beautiful if largely undiscovered part of Scotland, and in many ways we like to keep it a little bit secret, when you come here there is a wealth of history to keep you in the area for many days. Most people, who discover the Borders come back year after year. If you require a tour guide of the Borders by car in pdf format please ask as we have one that we can send.