Christmas in the vaulted halls of a 14th-century Scottish castle

Of the few tower houses that remain standing in the Scottish Borders, Neidpath Castle has charted this journey from battlefield to site of tourist pilgrimage as closely as any other. In its very beginnings, Neidpath (once known as Jedderfield) was the fulcrum for one of Scotland’s most notorious soldiers and some of its bloodiest battles. Today, this dramatic building, which looms over the Tweed on the outskirts of the town of Peebles, is the scene of weddings and parties, a location for films and a backdrop for photography shoots.

Chatelaine of this contemporary, more peaceable version of Neidpath is Lulu Benson, whose husband Matthew is a property consultant. The castle came into the family through Matthew’s mother Elizabeth, a farmer, whose ancestors inherited it in 1810 and whose antecedent Jean Douglas is said to haunt the place to this day. It was Jean who inspired The Maid of Neidpath, Scott’s poem about lost love.

Neidpath was built in its earliest form around 1190 by Sir Gilbert Fraser, an ancestor of Sir Simon Fraser, a suitably ruthless cohort of Sir William Wallace. It was Sir Simon, known as ‘The Patriot’, who cornered 10,000 English in the valley of Roslin, ambushed and slaughtered most of them, making sure that there were enough sufficiently shell-shocked survivors to go and spread the news of the horror they had witnessed and of the savagery of the Scots foe. For his troubles, he was executed – in 1306, a year after Wallace – and his castle burnt to the ground. The barony and the lands passed to the Hay family (later the Marquises of Tweeddale) who rebuilt Neidpath, then occupied it for over 300 years. During their time, Mary Queen of Scots is said to have stayed with them for a spot of hunting. She came alone on her first visit in 1563 and possibly with Lord Darnley a few years later – according to legend, they argued terribly. In 1686, Neidpath passed from the Tweeddales to the Douglas family.

And while Scott chose to immortalise the place in verse, John Buchan, too, kept a close interest not only in Neidpath but also in neighbouring Barns Tower. Once owned by the Burnet family, the tower is now part of the Neidpath estate. John Burnet of Barns was Buchan’s second novel – a worthy antecedent to the unforgettable stories of Prester John and The Thirty-Nine Steps.

So theatre lurks in this beautiful countryside. If the reivers are long gone, the sense of a bloodier time lingers. Barns Tower and Neidpath sit proudly, oblivious perhaps to their past, but speaking of it with their thick walls, their sky-high turrets, their architectural connection to a completely different age. In this atmosphere, curated by Lulu and her remarkable co-designer Peter Laird, the stuff of dreams can be perpetuated.

Lulu herself has always worked in the visual. She was married young, to Patrick Douglas-Hamilton, a photographer and musician. With a child on the way (Isabel, now 28, and studying to be a portrait painter in New York), she taught herself picture framing, having bought some machinery second hand from her uncle, Eric Grounds of Swallow Frames in London. For 10 years, she framed – for Flying Colours Gallery, Francis Kyle Gallery and the artist Stephen Mangan. In 1997, Lulu and Patrick having divorced, she married Matthew. The couple have two children: Sophie, now 21, and Rex, 18. The family was by now based in the Lothians and in 2001, Lulu became the co-owner of a boho boutique in Edinburgh called Arkangel.

With her business partner Janey Dalrymple, she trawled the fashion shows, particularly in Paris, looking for young designers. Their discoveries included Ilse Jacobsen, Issa and Erotokritos. Arkangel quickly became a must-visit shopping destination in the New Town. Of her time there, Lulu says, ‘Janey and I had a blast. We were bringing colour to Scotland. We wanted to have affordable, well-cut French labels, to make a look that worked in our weather and landscape. It was a fantastic adjunct to family life.’

Arkangel closed in 2010, to the chagrin of its many devotees. Lulu, always game for a challenge, briefly took up the mantle as a chutney guru and, in October 2011, ran the One World, One Chutney festival at Neidpath. By now, she and Matthew had moved into the old Sawmill, which sits in the lea of Neidpath and Barns Tower. Peter – who had become part of their lives when he organised their wedding – came into his own as a set designer for the castle. ‘Peter is a fantastic party organiser, a styling impresario, a magician,’ says Lulu. ‘He has that gift of walking into a room and making people feel better and places look better.’