Leave a Gift in Your Will

Love Abbotsford forever by leaving a gift in your will 

We simply cannot continue the work that we do without gifts left in wills and donations from people like yourself.  Your generosity and foresight help The Abbotsford Trust, which is an independent charity that is not government funded, to both continue our conservation work and educate people of all ages about the work and life of Sir Walter Scott and his descendants.  Your support helps to protect the beautiful and special place that Scott loved so much, and which is now cherished by the local community and visitors to Scotland from across the world. 

Writing a will is one of the most important decisions you will make. It ensures your wishes will be carried out after you have passed away.  By choosing to leave a gift to The Abbotsford Trust you will help to protect this special place for future generations.  

Legacies of all sizes all add up to ensure that the home of one of Scotland’s best loved and most famous writers, who had a huge impact on the culture of Scotland, is protected.   

Making a pledge to give a gift of even 1% of your estate will help secure Abbotsford for the future.

After you have provided for your loved ones, please consider leaving a gift to support The Abbotsford Trust’s work.  Your support means that more people will be able to experience Abbotsford and make memories here.  Future generations will learn about the legacy of Scott due to your gift.  

Whilst income from ticket sales, and both the shop and cafe are very welcome, they unfortunately do not cover our running costs of over £3,000 a day, let alone allow the charity to take forward important projects such as restoring key items or running programmes to engage disadvantaged groups in the local community with the heritage in our care. 

Along with safeguarding Abbotsford’s buildings and the estate, your support will conserve Scott’s original writer’s library of over 9,000 works, many annotated by the author himself, and over 6,000 items of furniture, militaria, antiquities and collectors’ items, collected by Scott and his descendants.  In addition, there are on going projects to restore parts of the fabric such as the Pavilion glass house restoration, and your support will enable the continuation of work with the local community such as providing schools visits and working with people with mental health challenges.   

Income from donations, including gifts in wills, help enable The Abbotsford Trust to fulfil our long- term ambitions to secure our buildings and collections, and engage the local community and the wider community of Scotland in Sir Walter Scott’s work.  

Join legacy pledgers like Nancy and John 

After retiring from busy working lives in teaching and engineering Nancy and John, who live near Abbotsford, were looking for a new interest and came to Abbotsford as volunteers. 

Nancy says:  

“Leaving a bequest to a charity is such an important thing to do, so for me leaving something in my will to Abbotsford was an obvious choice.  

Abbotsford is an iconic place – the brain-child of, and home to, one of the world’s greatest writers. So what better than to help preserve its future?  

Sir Walter Scott knew that his great love of tree planting was his own gift to future generations - few of them could have matured in his lifetime.  So, like Walter, I am leaving a bequest to help preserve a future for a place that so many people visit and love, now and for years to come.“ 

There are a number of ways to make a gift in your will to The Abbotsford Trust.  Usually the way to best support Abbotsford is to specify a percentage of what is left of your estate after looking after your loved ones.

Ideally gifts are for general purposes allowing the charity to use your gift for wherever it is most pressing at that time.  As a small charity this is particularly important as our requirements will change over time. 

If you would like more information, or to let us know that you have already left a gift to Abbotsford in your will, you can: 

• Request an Abbotsford Gift in Your Will Guide or arrange a discussion with the charity’s Development Manager regarding your future wishes and/or how you can best support the charity’s work. 
• Complete the pledge/gift in your will information form