A marvel of an old manse in Midlothian

A major renovation has given a new 21st-century lease of life to an early Victorian classic, finds Kirsty Mcluckie

Cranstoun House is a grand B-listed, period manse dating from around 1835 on the edge of the lovely conservation village of Ford, 12 miles south-east of the centre of Edinburgh.

Amanda Phillips and Alyn Smith bought the manse with a view to continuing a rural life – they were previously based in the Borders – but in a location much closer to the city.

Alyn is the director of Covell Matthews Architects in Edinburgh and Aberdeen and Amanda also has a background in architecture, but is now a professional landscape painter.

Amanda says: “Alyn refused to go back to living in Edinburgh, so it was a great choice in that we could get to the city easily and still enjoy the country life. We could also keep our four pet geese as the garden is big enough, very safe and private, and has a decent sized pond.”

As architects they were impressed by the quality of design in Cranstoun House too.

“When we viewed it we were struck by how pretty it is, the Scottish architecture of the tall chimneys and crow step dormers instantly attracted us.”

They were moving from a property with a lot of land and so the garden was important especially for the children, Rae who is now almost 18 and Theo who is 15, and for the family dog, Scout.

Amanda says: “We’re not flowers type gardeners but it’s a forested area with a large area of lawn for playing.

“The trees are quite beautiful and it felt almost like a mini version of the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens.”

Although the interiors were tired, the couple could see the potential. There are three large public rooms, a dining kitchen plus a conservatory which is enclosed by a walled courtyard.

Amanda says: “There had been quite a lot of interest in it but no one had come forward who were quite prepared to do the amount of work required.

“That always seems to be where we step in, we can’t quite resist a project. Some of our friends think there may be something wrong with us.”

The house has previously had money spent on it, with quality insertions such as the bathroom furniture and the Clive Christian kitchen already in situ, but most of the rooms needed to be relined with plasterboard on all the walls and ceilings, and replastered – which was a mammoth undertaking as the ceilings are high and scaffolding trolleys were needed.

Amanda admits: “The whole family did sleep on settees in the main living room for the first three months until we could move into the bedrooms.”

The upgrading project, which took a year, also removed all the floor coverings, replaced water tanks and plumbing, all the bathroom fitments and radiators, and redecorated every square inch inside.

In terms of interior decor, Amanda says: “The house has a feeling of grandeur inside and our painter and decorator David convinced me that we shouldn’t go for just painted walls and dull eggshell finishes, instead we wallpapered some of the rooms and used gloss paint which actually I now love for it’s light-reflecting qualities. There were touches of gold in the egg and dart cornices and the stair balustrade which I thought I’d paint over, but it had been done beautifully and we