A vast and eerie ruin of the 14th and 15th centuries, Hermitage is associated with the de Soules, the Douglases and Mary Queen of Scots. Hermitage Castle is found in a beautiful rural location in Liddesdale and its turbulent history has led to it being described as ‘the guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain’. Partly restored in the 19th century, the castle was originally built by Lord de Soules in the 1240s. For most of its existence, the castle was the key to controlling the Scottish Middle March.