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Thanks Gr2 for adding to the modern history of Balchers.  An old (mid 70s at a guess) looked through the hedge at the house a couple of Summers ago, when I spoke to him he told me that his father had Balchers ' at the end of the war and for a few years after' - he told me tales of how cold it was during the bad Winter of '47.

I suspect that the farm was bought soon after that by Mr Allan of Melrose estates, he amassed a number of farms in the area, but didnt live at Balchers.  When he died Melrose Estates was divided between his children and Gordon Allen took Balchers as part of his share, he lives at Castle of Cullen, near Gardenstown and farmed the Balchers land until about 4 yers ago, he has now let the farm to another local farming concern - Benzies - who manage a number of farms in the area, they mostly farm root vegetables.

Gordon Allen sold the house of Balchers to Roy Chillingworth and his wife 30-40 yers ago. they found the house in a run down condition and spent a lot of effort turning it into a home.  They brought up 4 children in the house, the youngest daughter still lives in King Edward.

John and I bought the house in 2008 and have spent a lot of money and time improving the house and converting the servant's wing into a holiday cottage.  We have also been recovering the 'lost garden', cutting back rhododendrons and self seeded saplings to recover Mrs Duncan's garden.

Both John and I now have some medical problems and are planning to retire to a smaller housenear Edinburgh.  So, with sadness, we have now put the Old House of Balchers on the market.

...and Sandie please post another couple of messages and I can communicate my address to you

Scott McIntosh

Sandie
thanks for your reply!
We would be delighted to see you in August, show you around and discuss what we know of the history of Balchers and the Duncans. 
Unfortunately I am getting a little too old to keep the house and garden going as we would like, so we have decided to sell Balchers and move into a smaller retirement house later this year.  This does mean that Balchers is currently up for sale, so you can have a look at the brochure about the place by going to the website of Mcewan Fraser Legal and typing Old House of Balchers into the search box.

We converted the servants wing at Balchers into a holiday cottage, it has 2 bedrooms and sleeps 4, if you are coming up for a few days you mat find staying there interesting!

Regards

Scott McIntosh

Thanks Monica,

we had already explored the kirkyard inscriptions and started on a family tree. 

The 1841 and 51 censuses are very interesting and helpful.  We will look at the pay to view records for the later censuses.

I gather that the last of the Duncans - 'Old Mrs Duncan' , who lived well into the 20th century, was a well kent character in the Parish and a leading light in the Horticultural Society.  I am hoping that I can find more about her - press cuttings, photographs etc.

I wonder if there are any Duncans still living in this area?