Mary Queen of Scots' Visitor Centre
Message from Tripadvisor •
Closed until 28 Feb 2025
Mary Queen of Scots' Visitor Centre
Mary Queen of Scots' Visitor Centre
4.5
Temporarily closedClosed until Feb 28, 2025
About
Mary Queen of Scots’ Visitor Centre is closed for the season and will reopen on 1 March 2025. We very much look forward to welcoming you then. Mary Queen of Scots’ Visitor Centre is set in the centre of historic Jedburgh and this 16th century tower house tells the story of Scotland’s tragic queen. Mary’s month here in Jedburgh in 1566 was a turning point in her life. A fine display of paintings, objects and textiles associated with her explores not only her life and times but the cult that has grown up around her. There is an interesting gift shop on ground level. Audio guides are available in English, French, German and Spanish. Printed foreign language guides available in other languages. A children's printed guide also available. Access to the displays is problematic for those with mobility difficulties. There is an interactive touchscreen on the ground floor that allows visitors to see the collections displayed and Mary's story to be told.
Duration: 1-2 hours
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listingWhat is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience nearby attractions
Are you currently on your trip?
Help us find experiences available for you.
The area
Address
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
24 within 3 miles
Attractions
15 within 6 miles
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
621 reviews
Excellent
373
Very good
209
Average
37
Poor
2
Terrible
0
Stewart Wilson
Innerleithen, UK36 contributions
Jul 2023 • Business
A wonderful museum, weaving the story of Mary’s life and eventual downfall into the specific incident of her visit to Jedburgh, which is presented as pivotal time in her story. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting and would recommend to anyone interested in Scottish history. A tip is to hire an audio tour which was only £2.50 when I visited. The voice acting from Josephine Grundy as Mary is great and really brings the story to life. Well worth your time, and a rare free attraction. I’d suggest leaving a donation!
Written 18 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your lovely review! We are very glad you enjoyed your visit, especially our audio tour which we fully agree is an excellent way to bring Mary's story to life!
Written 27 July 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Jennifer B
Pudsey, UK17 contributions
Mar 2024 • Family
We were happy we got to experience the Mary Queen of Scots house, as we believed it wasn't going to be open the day we were there. The museum gave a summarised history of Mary Stuarts life and why the house is connected to her. It also gives you a brief history of other residents who have lived in the house. I would have liked to have seen more history about the other residents and how the house was connected to the other towers they had. But it is a small building. It's worth a visit as it's free!!
Written 13 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your kind review! We are very pleased you enjoyed your visit!
For accurate opening hours on any of our sites please refer to the Live Borders website for up to date information - currently, in 2024, we are welcoming visitors every day (7 days a week) until the end of November!
As well as our selection of books about Mary we also sell a few books which contain more details on our beautiful building and it's previous residents as well as more history on Jedburgh and the local area which might be of interest to you please feel free to ask our helpful and knowledgeable staff members on your next visit!
Written 18 March 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Frederique C
Aberdeen, UK117 contributions
Apr 2023 • Couples
We were staying in the Borders for a few days and came accross this museum in Jedburgh. It is run by volunteers happy to provide help and information. Entrance is free, audio guides 2.50 gbp, donations welcome. This museum is situated in a magnificent stone house and contains interesting artefacts. If you are interested in Scottish history I recommend the trip. We left a donation to support this great project.
Written 2 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you very much for your lovely review! We are glad you enjoyed your visit! You mentioned our Audio guide - did you try it? It's very entertaining as well as informative and is proving very popular with many of our visitors!
Written 6 April 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Michelle H
9 contributions
Mar 2023
Well what a lovely little place this is . Visited with 2 friends who weren't as keen to look inside. Until we entered and then the story of Queen Mary unfolds as you read the sad tale of her life its fascinating and tragic by the time we had reached the top floor we all felt quite emotional and we were all glad we had visited. In fact we felt like we had gone on a journey with Queen Mary until the very top and her fateful end. The artifacts are fascinating, The history is explained in easy layman's terms and We felt that even our children would understand and enjoy the history. The shop is lovely and had lots of things that were within everyones budget. The lady behind the counter was lovely and helpful and couldn't have been nicer. I really would like to travel back sometime with my family. I can imagine it probably gets busy in peak season so maybe go early as we had the place to ourselves until we had finished.
Written 15 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We love getting comments like this - thank you, it's so useful to know where we are getting things right! We are very glad your friends were pleasantly surprised by their visit and glad that you all enjoyed and were moved by Mary's story.
Please do come back with your family, we love to see children here and we have a fun children's trail (perhaps you noticed the toy scotty dogs hidden around the museum?), which will keep those young minds busy!
For our visitors who prefer a quieter visit, we would recommend visiting earlier or later in the season (we are open until the 30th of November!) and visiting earlier in the day (we open from 10am) .
Written 23 March 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Ruth
40 contributions
Nov 2023 • Family
Having visited many many years ago, it was nice to go back with my own family to give them some Scottish history (they were born in England) and read about a very important time in history. A well presented and well thought out exhibition, it’s a very interesting building and tells the story well. I rather think MQS should have just stayed in France!
Nice shop, very nice and helpful staff and a donation is easily done by contactless payment.
Just watch as the stairs are narrow and the door lintels low. My husband is 5’ 10” and had a couple of bumps!
Take time to wander in the garden and read about Jedburgh and it’s interesting history with pear growing. That I never knew!
Nice shop, very nice and helpful staff and a donation is easily done by contactless payment.
Just watch as the stairs are narrow and the door lintels low. My husband is 5’ 10” and had a couple of bumps!
Take time to wander in the garden and read about Jedburgh and it’s interesting history with pear growing. That I never knew!
Written 7 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for taking the time to write this lovely review!
We are glad you decided to make a repeat visit to us with your family and hope you all enjoyed gaining some insight into an interesting period of Scottish history!
We are very sorry your husband had bumped his head and hope it hasn't put him off making another visit to us in the future!
Written 22 November 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Assessory
Herefordshire, UK36 contributions
Sept 2022
We visited Jedburgh because I'd passed through many years ago but didn't stop. The main place of interest was the Mary Queen of Scots centre, as my wife has had a particular interest in this famous/infamous woman. The information available was well-presented and sufficient to explain without making it a tedious experience. Access to the upper 3 floors is via increasingly narrow stairs and lacks a lift, so not suitable for wheelchair or restricted ability visitors. The gardens were lovely and quiet despite the proximity of the A68 bypass. There isn't an entry fee charge but donations are requested.
Written 30 September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your lovely review! We are glad you enjoyed your visit with us. For our less mobile visitors, as well as enjoying our beautiful gardens, we have an interactive touchscreen available in our shop on the ground floor where visitors can also have a seat and listen to our very entertaining audio guide or chat all things Mary with our friendly and knowledgeable front of house team.
Written 2 October 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Trivial Pursuits
England, UK115 contributions
Jul 2022
Very interesting and you can get away with quite a quick visit, I think we were only in about half an hour. There's not loads to see but enough to be worth it I think. The stairs up to the top floor and some of the doorways are quite tight, just worth mentioning in case it'll affect your visit.
Written 15 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for this helpful review and we are glad you enjoyed your visit!
Written 15 October 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Icecreaminthesand
Devon, UK458 contributions
Aug 2022 • Family
This is a lovely building, amazing history, beautiful gardens and very conveniently placed in the town centre.
However, the day we went the woman in the shop could not have been any ruder or colder!!
She was abrupt, defensive, constantly looking at my child and being really curt with him!
I get she may have had enough, she may not like kids. But customer service is about being the face of the product/company you represent. You could feel her eyes following your!
We had a quick look upstairs, it was quite busy for a small building. My child was put off and wanted to leave.
The outdoor site is wheelchair accessible.
The inside is not. There is an ‘armchair’ guide downstairs in the gift shop for those unable to get upstairs.
Just wanted to leave as the woman had made us feel completely unwelcome.
Wouldn’t return if this is how the future generation of guests are treated!
However, the day we went the woman in the shop could not have been any ruder or colder!!
She was abrupt, defensive, constantly looking at my child and being really curt with him!
I get she may have had enough, she may not like kids. But customer service is about being the face of the product/company you represent. You could feel her eyes following your!
We had a quick look upstairs, it was quite busy for a small building. My child was put off and wanted to leave.
The outdoor site is wheelchair accessible.
The inside is not. There is an ‘armchair’ guide downstairs in the gift shop for those unable to get upstairs.
Just wanted to leave as the woman had made us feel completely unwelcome.
Wouldn’t return if this is how the future generation of guests are treated!
Written 6 September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We are very sorry that you had a less than positive experience. We pride ourselves on providing a warm welcome to all visitors but on this occasion this was less than satisfactory.
Written 7 September 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
soo21
Manchester, UK138 contributions
Jul 2023 • Couples
Great small museum in the house Mary Queen of Scots stayed in, whilst she was in Jedburgh. This added to the atmosphere of the house. Very well set out. The audio tour made it so much more interesting for us. The lady behind the desk was informative and very helpful. The garden is beautiful and peaceful. Definitely worth a visit
Written 5 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your lovely comments! Our audio tour is very good and will definitely add more to your visit - we are glad you enjoyed it and hope to see you again soon!
Written 27 August 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Droggs
Scotland214 contributions
Jun 2022 • Couples
This place is free to visit although you can make a donation. The building itself is nice inside each floor being accessed by a narrow flight of stairs that get steeper and narrower the higher you go. However it certainly is a very interesting place to visit and in the sunshine the gardens surrounding it are very lovely.
Written 12 June 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your lovely review! We are glad you enjoyed your visit and that you also got the chance to enjoy our beautiful gardens in the sunshine!
Written 27 October 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Is there a direct bus from Edinburg to Jedburg to see Mary, Queen of Scots house? If so what is the number?
Written 14 March 2019
Google “bus Edinburgh to Jedburgh” - I think it’s a 51 and goes every 2 hours but I suspect it might be quite expensive!
An alternative is to get the Waverley Line train to the end of the line (beyond Galashiels) then get a local bus.
Is Mary Queen of Scots house worth all expense & a day travelling there and back? I’d suggest No. Add the abbey and you might have a day trip.
Written 16 March 2019
Hi, looking to plan a holiday in around September to Jedburgh but looking to see how many dog friendly places there are. I understand dogs would not be allowed bin the building but are they allowed on the grounds on a leash please? thank you
Written 1 January 2018
When I went, there were people in the gardens with dogs on leads but not mine, and yes the house is out of bounds to dogs, it’s well worth a visit and the gardens are lovely to sit in with a dog as well if there are two of you. Enjoy
Written 2 January 2018
What is the easiest way to get to Jedburgh if my friend and I are staying in Edinburgh?
Written 18 March 2017
From Edinburgh take the Road marked A68. Keep on A68 all the way to Jedburgh. It takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes approximately to make the Journey.
Written 19 March 2017
I'm getting conflicting information on hours. One site says open all year. Another site says not open in November?
Written 27 September 2016
I believe that it's open all year except Christmas Day and New Years Day
Written 27 September 2016
Showing results 1-6 of 6
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing