The Minnow House
28, Calton Hill
Edinburgh
Scotland

Rock House (left in the photograph above) is famous as the studio of the early Scottish pioneers of photography David Octavius Hill (1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (1821-1848), and The Minnow House is named after a photograph believed to have been taken in the garden in about 1839...

Right;
The Minnow Pool, c.1839
by David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson.
Salted paper print from calotype negative, 151x112mm.
Courtesy of RPS Collection at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television.

Restored and rebuilt from the ruined remains of one of the studio garden buildings, The Minnow House is a stylish and memorable place to stay. The top floor is a light octagonal Sitting Room with kitchen utilities concealed behind sliding doors.

Downstairs is a shower-room and double bedroom with a door which opens onto an enclosed paved garden with a pool and monumental urn.

If you have a baby or small child, owners Lisa and Anthony who live at Rock House can lend a cot/crib, help arrange baby sitters, and generally give advice about Edinburgh.

It's extraordinary to find such an idyllic garden retreat in the middle of a capital city. Behind the house is rural Calton Hill, a public park with a lot of famous Edinburgh landmark monuments upon it, and below, you step down onto the street that leads straight into Princes Street.

Everything you need is close at hand: theatres, galleries, restaurants, food shops and cafés.

Right;
The octagonal wooden-panelled Sitting Room has a wood-burning stove, TV/DVD and CD player, books, sofa and window seats.

Right;
The Minnow House has good views of Edinburgh. This photograph of the Royal Mile on the skyline, was taken in December through one of the windows of the octagonal Sitting Room.

Above left and right;
Sliding wooden panels conceal the kitchen utilities: gas hob and oven, dishwasher, fridge with freezer compartment, cookware, cutlery, etc. There's also a slide-out dining table under the window.

Left and right;

Shower room with power-shower, basin and wc.

Double bedroom with queen-sized bed.

The door opens onto the sheltered south-facing garden with a central pool surrounded by old flagstones.