Photo: Alexander Baxter
Most delightful, however, was the living room, with its walls covered in wraparound scenes of pastoral landscapes and birds fluttering in the canopies of trees; meanwhile, a trio of dramatic floor-to-ceiling glass orangery doors were painted a deep green with matching curtains and leafy potted standards flanking it, as a perfect bridge to the great outdoors. (This thoughtful blurring of inside and outside comes courtesy of Emily Smoor, founder of the Edinburgh-based Fantoush; evidently, it always helps to have a local’s eye.) Beyond the windows sits a private four-acre walled garden, which could have been plucked straight from a vintage postcard—fruit trees scattered in the near distance, a babbling stream cutting through the center—were it not for the more modern conveniences of an outdoor wood burner, a kamado grill, and an elegant cedar hot tub and plunge pool embedded within the paving immediately outside. And I haven’t even got to the private spa area yet, either, with its wood-paneled walls painted a soothing shade of red clay, the scent of warm pine emanating from it invitingly each evening before dinner.
Photo: Alexander Baxter
Photo: Alexander Baxter
Consider this a warning: once you’re ensconced in the plush environs of your private cottage or villa, you’ll find it very hard to leave. Thankfully, there’s plenty to do on-site, so you don’t have to go very far to feel like you’ve checked some more exploratory activities off the list. You can borrow e-bikes to explore the nearly 20 kilometers of trails that crisscross the estate, or join a local guide to go foraging for mushrooms (and receive some tips on how to use them while cooking later that evening), or try some wild wellness with yoga and breathwork classes in the woods. And for those visiting from further afield, who might feel obliged to undertake at least a bit of sightseeing, it’s only 10 minutes up the road to the mysterious Gothic magic of Rosslyn Chapel. Or 30 minutes to Edinburgh, with its world-class museums and galleries (when we visited, the talk of the town was an exhibition on the Edinburgh-based artist Everlyn Nicodemus at the National Galleries of Scotland) and thriving local food scene. (Oh, and make sure to stop by the homewares shop Bard in a historic dockland building on the Leith waterfront, where you’ll find goods exclusively made by artisans and makers from across the Scottish isles.)
As Clerk explains when we meet for a coffee at the estate offices, however, this is just the first step in what he hopes will come to offer a new model for agricultural estates looking to expand into hospitality. Next up is the reopening of the wonky Palladian wonder that is Penicuik House. What was once a stable block—albeit one with a handful of architectural quirks, including a clock tower and a replica of a Roman temple that now serves as a dovecote—and then became the family pile after the destruction of the old house, is currently undergoing another transformation under the aegis of furniture designer Charles Orchard, with the end result set to be an eclectic mix of old and new. There will be art and antiques plucked from the Clerks’ own collection (which you can expect will be impressive—it was a Clerk, after all, who brought the first Rembrandt to Scotland back in the second half of the 17th century), scattered around to serve as a backdrop for the larger groups set to rent it out when it opens later this year as an exclusive use property housing up to 32 guests at a time.
