The Haining

McTear’s is thrilled to be managing the auction of the contents of the amazing Borders country house under order of the Executers of the late Andrew James Nimmo-Smith. With half of the proceeds going to The Haining Charitable Trust, this will help to fulfil the wish to open a history room in the Haining and also future use of it as a creative arts hub and a catering kitchen.

Susan Edington of The Haining Charitable Trust comments:

“The contents of the Haining were all purchased by our benefactor Andrew Nimmo-Smith. Although there are some very fine examples of artwork and antiques in the property, such as a number of watercolour paintings by Selikirk’s own ‘son’ Tom Scott, nothing in the auction was originally part of the property. All family portraits, from both Mr Nimmo-Smith’s father’s family and his mother’s family the Pringle-Pattisons are being retained at The Haining, along with items from the pageant and hunt etc and family war diaries that we hope to publish but of course keep the originals at the house. The heritage of the families will remain in the house and form the focus of the History Room. We wish for the Haining to form part of the local community, to provide fun, education and employment and not only be a regular part of the community’s lives, but also to be a come-to venue for people from further afield who will hopefully visit and use the premises thus allowing it to be retained for the purpose Mr Nimmo-Smith envisaged, that is for the Haining to be used to provide culture and recreation to the people of Selkirkshire and the wider public. It cannot be stated strongly enough that for The Haining to succeed we will require funding on an international level and we have raised in excess of £700,000 since the inception of the Trust towards these ends including an international grant of £354,000. We are on the shortlist to house the Tait Modern Artist’s rooms in 2015 and we are already working with a local group to have the Haining as the hub for an Arts Festival in September next year. We are used for arts projects at the moment and have already worked with Chance for Change, Knowepark Primary School, The Royal Scottish Academy, Borders Youth Theatre, and CABN bringing arts to The Haining.”

This auction is made even more exciting as it will be filmed by the producers of The Antiques Roadshow who are making a new prime time series for BBC, with John Foster, BBC Antiques Expert, commenting on the Haining as 'a fascinating Scottish Country House with important connections to Scottish Border history'.

From beautiful paintings to unique pieces of furniture there will be something for everyone in this special auction. If you are interested in being part of this auction, viewing will commence with a drinks reception on Saturday 14th July from 3pm till 6pm with the auction taking place on Thursday the 19th of July.

The online catalogue is also available to view on our website to allow you to see what will be going on sale.

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