There are plenty of places to curl up and read around Capperkirk – a writing desk looking over the loch, up on the mezzanine, lounging on the sofa or by the fire in the conservatory – as well as several wee nooks outside.

If you are looking for inspiration you can wander the paths familiar to Sir Walter Scott, The Ettrick Shepherd James Hogg, Robert Burns or John Buchan. To learn about Scott visit his home at Abbotsford – scottsabbotsford.co.uk. A short walk from Capperkirk you will find a statue of James Hogg and there is a museum dedicated to him in Ettrick Valley which is open in the summer months: jameshoggexhibition.com  To follow in the footsteps of John Buchan you can follow a recognised long distance route or visit the John Buchan Centre which opens Easter weekend and then from mid-May – mid-October – johnbuchansociety.co.uk

If your reading is more Twenty First Century then a drive towards Edinburgh could take you to visit Rosslyn Chapel which features in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code – rosslynchapel.com

Other noteworthy places on a literary trail include Thomas Carlyle’s birthplace at Ecclefechan, near Lockerbie or Robert Smail’s Printing Works at Innerleithen – a restored Victorian printing press. Both are run by the National Trust for Scotland:  nts.org.uk