Welcome to Monreith House, built in 1798 and having undergone extensive refurbishment. It remains in the hands of the Maxwell family, who acquired the estate by marriage in 1450. The architect was Alexander Stephens, otherwise famous as a building contractor for Robert Adam in Edinburgh New Town. The House is complemented by beautiful, original furniture by craftsmen like Gillow and Trotter, and the library collection dates from the 17th century. Visitors will also see estate maps which evoke the grounds as they once were, and the flower paintings of Sir Herbert Maxwell. Perhaps one of the House’s most famous and more recent attributes however, is the inspiration it provided to Gavin Maxwell for his book about an otter, ‘Ring of Bright Water’.