Hugo Burge Foundation honours legacy of late entrepreneur and Borders arts and crafts patron

Hugo Burge had a vision for Marchmont House, the grand Palladian mansion he owned in the Borders.

Despite finding success in the digital world through travel search engines such as Cheapflights, the London-born entrepreneur wanted to create a physical hub for the local community to gather and unleash their creativity.

Building workshops and studios and hosting events and concerts, he spent 10 years filling the house and its grounds with art and artists.

Last May, though, he died aged just 51 with many ventures left unfinished. In his memory, the newly established Hugo Burge Foundation endeavours to carry on the philanthropist’s work and build on his legacy.

This summer, the Borders community will be able to enjoy drawing classes, film premieres, flower arranging workshops, garden tours and more in Marchmont’s permanent studio spaces, beautiful walled garden and restored glasshouse.

“Hugo was interested in quite disruptive businesses that were using the internet to get accessibility for people,” foundation executive director Lucy Brown explained.

“Things like Cheapflights were very much about democratising the travel industry and the companies he invested in were like that too. He felt very much that, with the digital revolution of everything, he wanted that focus on arts and crafts again because he loved both. He loved the digital world and he loved heritage crafts.”

Borders arts community

The loss of Hugo was felt deeply within the local community. His father Oliver had bought the Marchmont Estate as an investment in 1988, and when the Sue Ryder charity’s nursing home on the grounds closed in 2005, it was purchased by the Burges. Hugo had found a home in the area and wanted to invite others in.

“Everybody who met him just thought he was amazing,” Lucy said. “He was very rare in that way. Everyone was interested and impressed by him, because that’s how he was with other people. People talk about him being a patron of the arts, but actually he supported everybody. That gave so many people a lot of encouragement; we’re just finding out the extent of the philanthropic work he was doing. Often he would help people and no one knew.”

Lucy became involved with the foundation when Hugo emailed her a job description which fit the bill for her perfectly. She has countless cherished memories of working alongside him.

“He was always excited about things and looking for the next adventure. Some of what we’re able to do now, when he set this up, he was dreaming of that maybe five or 10 years down the road. It’s really great to be able to do that now.”

Breaking down barriers

Before joining the foundation, Lucy had a mixed career background of commercial and the arts, but has always aimed to break down barriers for people.

“You can feel like the National Museums of Scotland is not for you, it’s for those other people who are posher than you or more cultured than you,” she said. “We’re really trying to break that down.”

The foundation also aims to provide creative outlets to a rural area where activities are often based more around sport and physical labour.

Lucy said: “There’s not an awful lot dedicated to creativity. If you’re a young person who doesn’t quite fit that mould, there needs to be something else on offer and often people have to go to one of the cities for that.

“At the end of the day, Hugo’s big dream – and it sounds simplistic – was to make the world a better place, more beautiful, kinder,” Lucy added. “It’s amazing, really, to be able to provide something so wonderful out of a tragedy.”

Find out more at hugoburgefoundation.org/events