"As two mummies of young boys (her of two, me of one), Emily and I couldn’t have chosen a better day to plan our overnight escape to Melville Castle, which is located on the Southern tip of Edinburgh towards Dalkeith. The sun was virtually splitting the trees as we drove up the private approach road, and as it happens, trees are something the lush grounds are pretty flush with, the bucolic setting a mere 8 miles from the city centre. A neo-gothic mansion house, it was designed by James Playfair (brother of William) and built between 1786-90 for Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. By the 1980s the building had been abandoned and was in ruin, later bought and restored in the 1990s by developer William Hay who wanted to bring the property back to life and run it as a hotel venue."
