The writer and poet Violet Jacob (1863–1946), author of Flemington and Tales of Angus, was a member of the Kennedy-Erskine family and was born in the house.

The rest of the house was leased to a local farming family who ran it as a bed and breakfast establishment for many years.

The Trust discovered all the original furnishings in the attic and spent nine years returning the house to the state it had been in at the time of Augusta.

In 1989, the house opened to the public, the Queen Mother presiding to mark the tercentenary of William Adam's death.

The adjacent Montrose Basin nature reserve, part of the estuary of the South Esk, is also a National Trust for Scotland property.