01 / Documented history
The older name beneath Venlaw
Before Venlaw, there was Smithfield. Historic Environment Scotland records that the present house occupies the site of Smithfield Castle, once associated with the Dicksons of Winkston. The property passed through several families before Alexander Stevenson, Sheriff of Peebles, gave the house its new identity. The name came from the neighbouring hill, binding the residence to the landscape above the town.
An inscription records the building of Stevenson’s house in 1782 and its purchase by Major Archibald Erskine in 1798. Those dates offer firm points in a complicated succession of owners. They also help distinguish the surviving country house from the earlier castle remembered beneath its name and site.
Later generations of Erskines reshaped the property. Sir James Elphinstone Erskine and his wife Margaret were responsible for its late nineteenth-century enlargement. The building became an expression of family history and changing taste, with new work added around an older domestic core.
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02 / Reading the building
Two kinds of Gothic ambition
Venlaw rewards a second look at its outline. The Scottish Government’s 2019 architectural assessment identifies a Gothic country house, an entrance porch added on the east in 1854 and a Baronial extension of 1892 on the south. Its special interest lies partly in how those different phases stand together. The dramatic profile grew through additions rather than arriving as a single finished design.
The assessment also explains why small details matter. During consideration of proposed residential alterations, Historic Environment Scotland raised concerns about the potential loss of distinctive arched window openings and the effect of an attached extension on the older house. The discussion shows that conservation involves the relationship between parts of a building as well as individual features.
Compare that description with the photograph: the pointed roofs, pale surfaces and clusters of chimneys make a varied skyline. The eye moves between shapes and heights, following a house that has repeatedly changed its appearance.
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03 / Lives inside the walls
A place of recovery and hospitality
During the First World War, Venlaw served people recovering from conflict. Peebles Historical Archive records its use as a convalescent home for twelve naval officers. In 1915 its capacity increased to thirty, and it became an auxiliary Red Cross hospital. These figures give a sense of the change in scale when a private house took on a public wartime role.
That chapter deserves attention in its own right. Recovery is part of the building’s documented history; the patients’ presence does not establish a connection with the later ghost story. No individual patient’s experience is supplied in the account cited here, and their stories should not be invented to lend the house an atmosphere.
A different kind of welcome began when Venlaw opened as a hotel in 1949. The local archive describes another change in 1997, when new owners John and Shirley Sloggie reversed the familiar name to Castle Venlaw Hotel. For generations of guests, this became the house’s identity.
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04 / The wider setting
A wooded backdrop to the town
Venlaw’s trees belong to the story as much as its turrets. A 2009 survey prepared for Scottish Borders Council describes a compact designed landscape on the northern side of Peebles, overlooking the town. Woodland continuing into neighbouring properties gives it a presence beyond the immediate grounds. The house forms one element in a much broader setting.
The survey records terraces on steep ground, a small walled garden and ornamental planting around the drive, including rhododendrons and specimen conifers. These features speak of a landscape arranged for movement, shelter and changing views. Open areas, dark trees and the pale building create different kinds of contrast as the ground rises.
Even in 2009, ownership was divided and the approach served several properties. That dated survey is useful for understanding the landscape’s development, rather than as a promise of present garden access. Its central insight remains valuable: Venlaw’s setting helps shape the character of Peebles itself.
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05 / A reported story
Sighing in a hotel bedroom
The most specific haunting account found for Venlaw is a short entry in the Paranormal Database. It records reports of sighing in a bedroom during the hotel era and a suggested association with an unnamed guest’s suicide attempt. The database places the account in the 1960s, but gives no precise encounter date or room number.
Added in October 2002, the entry labels its source as published media, without identifying the publication or a witness. It does not establish that the reported attempt was fatal. Later retellings that supply a death or dramatic details go beyond this record.
What can responsibly be preserved is the published report of a sound and the interpretation attached to it. The source leaves their relationship unresolved. Its hotel-era setting also matters: an old account cannot identify a particular present-day apartment, nor tell us what today’s residents experience.
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06 / The castle today
From hotel rooms to homes
The hotel’s closure in 2017 is recorded in the Scottish Government’s planning assessment. Residential conversion followed. Stanley Brash Construction’s development page describes a scheme for eleven apartments, with eight in the original hotel building and three new homes in an annexe. Peebles Historical Archive dates the conversion to 2020–21.
More recent evidence comes from a residential sales listing added in January 2026. The agent, Warners, describes an apartment combining retained period features, including cornicing and a fireplace, with modern domestic fittings. Shared gardens and residents’ parking appear among its amenities. This is evidence of a building being lived in, rather than an invitation to explore former hotel rooms.
Venlaw’s newest chapter brings it back to domestic life, now divided among separate households. That change is central to understanding the place. Old hotel descriptions may remain easy to find online, but they belong to an earlier use and should not guide a journey here today.
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- Scottish Government: Former hotel use and closure, 2019 assessment (opens in a new tab)
- Stanley Brash Construction: Venlaw apartment development (opens in a new tab)
- Peebles Historical Archive: Conversion chronology (opens in a new tab)
- Warners: Venlaw residential particulars, added January 2026 (opens in a new tab)
07 / Plan a visit
Enjoy Venlaw’s wider landscape
For an outdoor visit, start with Scottish Borders Council’s Paths Around Peebles booklet. Its Venlaw and Soonhope route is listed as five kilometres, beginning and ending at East Station car park on Edinburgh Road. It explores woodland and the glen beyond, offering a way to understand the setting without seeking access to the private apartments.
The route uses roads and tracks, with a steep grassy descent and a crossing of Soonhope Burn. The council recommends boots or strong shoes in wet conditions. Read the full directions and map before setting out, and check conditions and signs on the day. Contact the council for advice if gradients or surfaces may affect your plans.
Treat residential entrances, parking and gardens as places where people live. There is no verified public castle-tour programme in the sources checked for this guide. Come for the wider walk and the history of the hillside, with access information checked on 16 September 2026.
Prepared for Scottish Paranormal / Haunted Scotland.
Sources and visitor information reviewed 16 September 2026.
