30 C O N T E X T 1 3 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 Next on our tour was Selkirk, where conservation area regeneration scheme is in operation, funded by Historic Scotland and the council. The scheme offers grant aid towards repair works to traditional buildings and support for complementary initiatives (particularly in education and training) to increase awareness and understanding of the town’s rich heritage. The scheme also aims to improve the public realm of the town to enhance the conservation area. Here we visited the Courthouse, where Scott practiced as sheriffdepute. It is now a museum owned by the community. Various conservation issues need addressing, such as stonework repairs. We visited the Haining, where Scott was a frequent visitor.We were met by Lawrence Robinson, a director of the Selkirk Regeneration Company. The Haining, Category A listed and a building at risk, was left to the people of Selkirk in 2009 when its last owner died. A trust for the building has been established and work is being carried out to conserve the building and provide it with a sustainable use. At present, the stable blocks have been partially converted by Lee Boyd Architects to artist studios and the house itself was used recently for an arts festival. Similar functions are being sought for the building in the future. Our final stop was at Dryburgh Abbey, its romance perhaps enhanced by the pouring rain. This is where Scott was eventually buried, with his wife Charlotte, his son Walter and his son-in-law John Gibson Lockhart. The poor weather prevented the group appreciating Scott’s View, overlooking the River Tweed and the Eildon Hills, which was one of his favourite viewpoints. This did not dampen our appreciation for a fascinating journey through Scott’s life. Catherine Dove Jupiter in artland ‘What has a contemporary sculpture garden to do with conservation?’ we wondered, while looking forward to a contrasting tour of a beautiful place. The tour guide was a clue: BenTindall of BenjaminTindall Architects, who specialise in conservation (Ben is also an artist and sculptor). The purpose of the visit was three-fold: first to consider the approach taken by Benjamin Tindall Architects to extending the Category A mansion house, currently approaching practical completion on site; second, to study the conversion of the farm steading to provide visitor facilities; and, finally, to enjoy the contemporary sculpture within the setting of the listed buildings. Tindall explained how he had undertaken research into the historic form of Bonnington House, uncovering map ‘evidence’ of wings to each side of the 18th-century mansion. The property had undergone extensive ‘Jacobethan’ remodelling in 1858, funded through the sale of a large proportion of the estate. The approach adopted for the current extensions, of symmetrical hipped wings, ‘sitting comfortably’ and attached to the house by curved links with niches for statues, was not welcomed by the planning authority, as policy stated that extensions should be small and to the rear. We debated the planners’ position: obstinacy or an inability to recognise an exceptional design that justified a variance from policy? We admired the quality of the craftsmanship in the carved panels to the pediments, the stonework of the window dressings and strapwork quoins, the leadwork of the cupolas, the fine joinery of the sash windows, and the copperas pigmented lime render. We applauded the environmental strategy, with incorporation of considerable insulation within the thickness of the diaphragm walls and in the roof, and the installation of the largest ground-source heat pump in Scotland to date. It was only over lunch, after Tindall had left us, that several of the group admitted to finding the scheme overly pastiche, regretting that a more contemporary approach had not been taken, at least to the curved links. The repair and conversion of the steading found greater favour. We commended Tindall’s determination to win the planners over when it came to the use of contemporary, yet typically agricultural, materials such as shiny corrugated-metal roofing and stained-timber wall cladding in reinstating the lost end of the steading range, to accommodate the ticket office and shop. We admired the quirky yet architecturally complementary stainless-steel airstream caravan café servery, and the decision to go for a modern reworking of outside privies. Wandering independently through the sculpture park without adherence at any particular route gave rise to informal discussions of the site-specific works as we met by chance at the different installations. The melancholy Scots seemed to have the greatest affection for Laura Ford’s weeping girls. Tania Kovat’s Rivers boathouse with its jars of water drawn from a hundred UK rivers had particular resonance for some living south of the border. This was not necessarily a Ben Tindall outlines his work at Bonnington House (Photo: Michael Taylor)
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