Susan Edmonstone Ferrier Ferrier visited Walter Scott at Ashiestiel Farm and House on the banks of the River Tweed, near Clovenfords in the Scottish Borders, and again in 1829 and 1831 at his new house, Abbotsford. They enjoyed each other's company and he wrote of her: "This gifted personage besides having great talents has conversation the least exigeant of any author, female at least..., simple, full of humour, and exceedingly ready at repartee, and all this without the least affectation of the blue stocking." He mentioned her in the same sentence as Maria Edgeworth and Frances Burney in 1825. Ferrier's account of the
Abbotsford, Picton surveyor. The main block of the house may have been built before Harper made his trip to England in 1827. The ornamental plantings include relatively rare species of horticultural interest and are thought to have been planted by George Harper. The rest of the house was built before his death at "Abbotsford" in 1841. Purchased by William Redfern Antill, local Magistrate and prominent early settler in 1865. "Abbotsford House" was built . The original access road to "Abbotsford House" extended in a straight line from the "Abbotsford" crossing of Race Course Creek. The timber truss Abbotsford Bridge was built .