KEYS TO KNOW

crow stepped gable.”

You can understand the attraction; Ormiston is a textbook grand Victorian house, but on a domestic scale. Charles says: “It has two big drawing rooms for house parties, but when it is just the two of us we live in the kitchen and our bedroom.”

Sharon’s favourite is the morning room, with bay windows looking south and west. Charles says: “It is a lovely room in the spring or summer and in the winter there is a cast iron stove in there which makes it very warm.”

As part of their refurbishment they opened up chimneys and there is another cast iron stove in the hall, which is lit on a Friday night during cooler months and blazes away all weekend, heating up the whole core of the house.

The house comes alive at Christmas particularly, with the chandeliered drawing room sporting a vast tree and another in the hall.

Charles says: “We possibly should have downsized 12 years ago instead of moving here, but it has been huge fun restoring it back to a family home and we’ve really enjoyed our time here.” Ormiston House, Kirknewton, Midlothian.

B-listed Scots Baronial house packed with period features.

Seven bedrooms, five reception rooms, six bathrooms.

15 acres of spectacular grounds including lawns, tennis court, a vegetable garden and woodland.