It is traditionally stone built with a lime render and symmetry – a nod to the period homes of East Lothian. Yet the interior is modern and, unlike a traditional grand country house, the layout is perfect for 21st Century family living.

Current owner Alistair Cooper insists this is one of its great advantages: “It is a big house, but all of the space is given over to living rooms, rather than having that warren of small rooms that most houses of this size have.

“Although the square footage is more than ample, it is because the rooms are large – we use all of them, rather than having to knock through walls to create space.”

Eskgrove Hall, Inveresk, Musselburgh. Image: Angus Behm/Square Foot

Eskgrove’s interior reveals a spacious entrance hall dominated by a double staircase. The back of the house has a beautiful dining-kitchen, flanked by a family area and a dining room, now repurposed with a bar and snooker table.

The mansion’s two wings house a double-height drawing room on one side, and an integral garage and gym on the other.

Upstairs, the house has six bedrooms on its first floor, set around the landing overlooking the space below. The master includes a dressing room and ensuite, while the top floor has another sitting room and two more bedrooms.

Such luxury of size is what attracted Alistair and his American wife, Chelsea, when they were looking to relocate from Manhattan, with their two children, Bryson, now eight, and Marion, seven.

Alistair recalls: “What we craved was space for the children and it was a stark contrast from living in an apartment with no garden to what is essentially a stately home. It was massively appealing, and it has the appearance of an old house without any of the problems of age – everything works!”

“We have upgraded cosmetically and upgraded the wifi, which was pretty calamitous before. We are 300 yards down a private lane, so I put in Starlink internet which made a big difference to us.”

This connectivity is vital as both husband and wife work remotely –Alistair owns and runs an American tech company, while Chelsea is a senior executive for a healthcare company based in New York.

He continues: “We also put in a state-of-the-art security system –not because it is an unsafe area, but because I travel a lot, and this was our first experience of living in what is essentially a rural house.”

The way they use the house is modern too. Alistair says: “Who in our generation uses a formal dining room more than twice a year? We now use the bar almost every weekend. I’ve got a putting green in there and an arcade game, we have karaoke nights and use it for entertaining.

“The formal drawing room is lovely – over the fire is an ornate mirror which looks the part, but it actually transforms into a TV for watching the rugby with a crowd.

“It is also a great room to work in, the light is excellent and there is no rooms above as it is double-height, so it is peaceful. In the summer, I open the French doors to the terrace, turn on the fountain and it is such a relaxing place.”

The setting is peaceful too, with nearly three acres of private grounds surrounded by mature trees. Alistair says: “They make a nice buffer at the back of the property between us and the park. There are tennis courts and a cricket ground, quiet woodland walks but there are ten foot walls between us and the park – no-one knows we are here and, although you occasionally hear the thwack of tennis or cricket balls, I quite like that.”

Eskgrove Hall, Inveresk, Musselburgh, is priced at offers over £1.995m.

For more information, contact Knight Frank on 0131 222 9600.

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