School in a Scottish Castle

Imagine for a few minutes that you are a young child and you have just been told by your teachers and parents that your nation was now at war and you would have to evacuated to the country for your safety, what would you feel, fear about leaving your family for a strange place or maybe excitement at this new adventure? It's harder than you might think to put yourself in the same shoes children across Britain found themselves in as the nation braced for war. Once evacuated where would you go? To the surprise of many children, they found themselves living and attending school in some of Britain's most historic houses. One such school was St. Hilary's School for Girls, the girls spent five years at Thirlestane castle in Lauder after being evacuated from Edinburgh. The girls lived in the main part of the castle while the Earl and Countess of Lauderdale lived in a wing of their great house. During their time at Thirlestane, there were many ups and downs for the children and school staff. During their early days at Thirlestane, the girls bathed in the River Leader behind the castle while plumbing issue where being sorted out. Then there was the day one of the Maitland portraits which hung in the dining room fell and landed on one of the staff members heads! This book tells the story of the girls of St. Hilary's and the five years they spent at Thirlestane and of the Maitland family who owned the estate. Thirlestane is open to the public today, however, most visitors are unaware of its wartime past. The stories in this book are not just based on cold historical records but also on the memories of the people who called this historic estate home during the dark days of the war.