Relaxing Country House B&B in Dumfries & Galloway near the Scottish Borders

Sitting within the grounds of Blacket House is Blacket Tower which is a scheduled ancient monument dating from the 16th Century. The tower was a fortified defensive tower and home to the Clan Bell. The Clan Bell’s last recognised chief, William Redcloak Bell died in 1628. The Bells were well known as one of the most famous names amongst the Border Reiver families in the buffer zone between Scotland and England that for over 700 years until 1745 had never had 50 consecutive years of peace.

It was also the home of Richard Bell who in the mid-16th century was the official suitor of “Fair Helen Irvine” the daughter of the Laird of Kirkconnel the neighbouring estate.

The tragic story of how she died at the hands of Bell when she tried to defend her lover Adam Fleming of Kirkpatrick took a firm hold of local folklore and became the subject of several ballads over the centuries. These include Fair Helen of Kirkconnel Lea, and was also used as the source for Eaglesfield Smith’s most famous poem, William and Helen, published in his book Legendary Tales in 1806.

The present house is a small mansion house which was designed for the owner Eaglesfield Smith by the famous Dumfries architect, Walter Newall. It was built in about 1835 and remains little altered, apart from a 'roof off' renovation completed in the early 1990’s. A poet, Eaglesfield Smith, was a medical graduate of Edinburgh. His memorial was to be the naming of the village of Eaglesfield.