The Rosslyn estate (‘Roslin’ is the spelling used for its village) has been held by the St. Clairs, an ancient Scottish family, since the early fourteenth century. Rosslyn has long been famous for its picturesque valley, enhanced by the St. Clairs with two extraordinary buildings – an ancient castle and the breathtaking Rosslyn Chapel. The chapel represents the pinnacle of the fifteenth-century stonemason’s craft, embellished on every surface with imagery that made it a place of mysticism and pilgrimage through centuries of dereliction. The present Earl and Countess of Rosslyn have been instrumental in the chapel’s ongoing restoration (it is as popular a tourist attraction today as it has ever been). To support their efforts to keep this ancient inheritance together, we let on their behalf Rosslyn Castle and the former inn beside Rosslyn Chapel.

Most of the castle was built around 1450 by the great William, Prince of Orkney, who lived at Rosslyn in regal state, dining off gold and silver. It was he who built the extraordinary ornament-encrusted chapel of St Matthew at Roslin, one of the wonders of Scotland.

The older fortifications survive only as ruins, but shortly before 1600 Sir William Sinclair replaced the east curtain wall with a more comfortable dwelling, but one which still contains an element of drama. On one side a modest two storey building, on the other it drops five storeys down the side of the rock to reach the ground 60 feet below. Decorated with panelling and moulded plaster ceilings, but later left empty for long periods, the habitable rooms have been restored and furnished by the present Earl of Rosslyn.

Sleeps: 7