Ayton Castle, a 17-bedroom baronial estate in the Scottish Borders, has come to market for £3.25 million through Knight Frank. Situated near Berwick-upon-Tweed and roughly an hour from Edinburgh, the castle is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s finest examples of 19th-century baronial architecture and is one of only two structures of this style designed by early Gothic Revival architect James Gillespie Graham.

Built around a medieval tower house and arranged primarily over two storeys with a five-storey Great Tower, the castle is constructed in squared and snecked red sandstone with ashlar dressings, rope-moulded corbelling, crenellated parapets, and crow-stepped gables. The interiors include schemes by Bonnar & Carfrae, Scotland’s leading decorators of the period, whose work left a notable impression on Mark Twain during an 1873 visit. The author purchased the dining-room fireplace mantel, now held at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut.

The castle’s three principal state rooms retain 17th-century Scottish-style plasterwork. A gallery corridor links these formal rooms to the private chapel, which includes a kitchenette and dining space. The main kitchen, with a butler’s pantry, sits adjacent to the dining room and near the rear service entrance. A broad turnpike staircase rises from the gallery to the first floor, which contains twelve bedrooms and six bathrooms overlooking the gardens and parkland. The second floor provides four additional bedrooms and two bathrooms. Further historic service rooms and domestic quarters sit at basement and courtyard level.

Ayton Castle stands within 160.56 acres of listed gardens, woodland, and designed parkland, including the Upper and Lower Pinetums. Since 2014, the current owners have undertaken partial rewiring and re-plumbing, redecoration of principal rooms, the creation of a formal southern garden, and the installation of a 10¼-inch gauge railway—approximately 600 metres long—with its own platform, ticket office, engine shed, and joiner’s workshop. A 16th-century beehive-type dovecote and a subterranean ice house are also concealed within the grounds.

Secondary accommodation forms a significant part of the estate. Multiple cottages, gate lodges, and stable flats are let on Private Residential or Short Assured Tenancies. The Category B-listed stable block includes stabling for nine horses, loose boxes, stores, a staff room, tack room, workshop, and a double garage. An all-weather manège and additional loose boxes support the livery business currently operated on-site.

Set within expansive wooded policies and landscaped terraces, Ayton Castle remains one of the Scottish Borders’ most architecturally significant baronial estates, combining 19th-century craftsmanship, documented provenance, and extensive landholdings within close proximity to the Scottish capital.