A BORDERS castle will stay closed to day visitors for the rest of 2020, bosses say.

Trustees of Thirlestane Castle, near Lauder, have made the decision due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Edward Maitland-Carew said: "With so much uncertainty and having weighed up all our options, it is with great sadness that we have had to make the very difficult decision to not open the castle to the day visitor this year.

"These are challenging times for museums like Thirlestane Castle who rely so heavily on visitor income to preserve the castle and its collections."

The 16th century castle, regarded as one of the finest in Scotland, is home to the Maitland family.

Although they have ruled out visits from day-trippers, they hope to open some overnight accommodation in July.

Plans have been drawn up to reopen five self-catering holiday apartments, with the expectation that Scotland will move into phase three of lockdown easing on July 15.

A castle spokesperson said: "Staff are being trained in new measures to protect both themselves and guests, including self-check in services and enhanced hygiene and cleaning procedures".

The owner plans to reopen the castle and grounds to day visitors in March 2021.