New jobs are on the fairway at a former mid-Berwickshire golf club affectionately known as the ‘Augusta of the Borders’.

The management at Hirsel Golf Club at Woodlands Park in Coldstream confirmed its closure after filing for bankruptcy in September 2024.

The course covers part of the Hirsel Estate, famed for being the ancestral home of Lord David Douglas-Home, son of former Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home.

Now a planning application by Peebles-based Douglas & Angus Estates has been approved by Scottish Borders Council to convert the former clubhouse into office space.

The club, formed in 1948, was forced into bankruptcy after increasing costs and declining membership, and a significant rise in running costs.

The change of use will provide much-needed flexible spaces that will support the creation of new local jobs.

In a report approving the conversion, Cameron Kirk, Scottish Borders Council’s assistant planning officer, states: “The proposed development would provide a suitable alternative use for an existing building that may otherwise lay vacant.”