Fisherman’s Heaven: Ednam House Hotel in Kelso
My wife and I took a vacation in September to the borders area of Scotland, just south of Edinburgh. This is an area rich in history with abbeys, roman ruins, castles, and hilltop forts. In addition, it has great fishing. Great Fishing.
I am not a fly fisherman, so you can imagine our surprise when my wife and I found out that we had booked a room at the best fishing hotel in Scotland, the Ednam House Hotel, at the height of the salmon fishing season. It was quite an experience, and despite the fact that we are not fisher-people, we were made to feel quite welcome.
Built in 1761, the hotel is conveniently located on the banks of the River Tweed in Kelso, Scotland, just across from the ruins of Kelso Abbey (established in 1185 AD.) It's been under management by the same family for the past 81 years and has developed a very loyal following. In fact, there were several multi-generational families having their annual fishing trip when we visited.
The hotel itself has about 30 rooms distributed throughout the original buildings and a "contemporary" addition. The guest rooms are very large and comfortable, without being overly posh, and many feature a large entrance-way so you can take off wet clothes and hang them up when you come back from fishing.
The decor is definitely fishing oriented, but in a tasteful Georgian style, and oil paintings of fishy subjects, framed fly lures, stuffed fish, and cases of old reels adorn the walls throughout the house.
Guests who are fishing for the day are provided with a box lunch that is literally packed in a substantial wooden box, a holdover from the days when boxes were made out of wood and not paper.
There is a bar on the premises, in addition to a dining room where breakfast and dinner are served overlooking the gardens on the Tweed. The hotel will prepare dinner with a guest's catch if desired, smoke it, or pack it up in ice for transport home. This quite a luxury given that a single salmon can run to 20 or 30 lbs in size.
The town of Kelso itself is quite nice and it is a short walk from the hotel to several fishing outfitters and an excellent restaurant/pub called The Cobbles. Kelso is situated near Melrose and Dryburgh if you are interested in visiting other more preserved abbeys. In addition, there is some fine hill walking in the area on St Cuthbert's Way and many other local trails.
P.S. I just discovered a wonderful hill walking blog as well this evening whose author lives near Kelso called Windywalls. Check it out.
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