Renovated Victorian mansion home with designer interiors hits the market in Midlothian

After an extensive renovation to a grand Victorian house, redecoration was the fun part, and the results are stunning.

Edgerton House is a magnificent, late-Victorian detached property, situated just to the south of Edinburgh in Bonnyrigg, by Lasswade.

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Scott and Lesley Mackintosh bought it eight years ago, moving from Inveresk.

The couple are directors of a financial services company but in their spare time have transformed the house in a project of an impressive scale.

Scott says that one of the reasons they bought the house was practical: “Our son Simon was 21 when we moved here so it was a great opportunity for him to get his own space, in the separate coach house, but still be part of the family.”

The couple also have a daughter Tara, who was 15.

Picture: Strutt and Parker

Lesley adds: “We fell in love with the house, slightly with rose-tinted glasses but it was exactly what we wanted in terms of a size and the room layout.

“We thought the work was going to be largely cosmetic, but on closer inspection it needed rewiring and replastering, so essentially we have gone through every room and redone it in the last eight years.”

The more involved work included a period of four months to redo the kitchen area. Lesley says: “Floors were lifted and the walls had to be re-strengthened.

Picture: Strutt and Parker

“We actually moved out for a month, as the room was full of rubble.”

The sun room was also largely rebuilt, as it had no electricity or lighting and was only single glazed.

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Lesley says: “It looked as if you could blow it down. Now it has double glazing and as well as power has underfloor heating.”

Once the practical messy work was done, the couple could finally get to the task they really enjoy, creating the interior design.

Picture: Strutt and Parker

Scott says: “We are really like-minded and tend to be drawn to the same things, without much disagreement.”

Apart from the dining room, that is. He says: “That was Lesley’s project and half way through I absolutely hated it, but when it was finished I had to concede that it is a spectacular room.”

Picture: Strutt and Parker

Lesley says: “As inspiration for each room, we tend to buy one piece and then work round it.

"For instance in the dining room there is a dramatic abstract artwork, bought on a weekend away in York, which started my thought process and everything in the room has been brought in to have some relationship with that.”

Picture: Strutt and Parker

In the master bedroom, the starting point was the huge gold sleigh bed while the wine cooler set in the room’s fitted wardrobes – supplying “water for me and champagne for Lesley,” jokes Scott – is a luxurious touch to the magnificent Parisian themed room.

Picture: Strutt and Parker

They tend not to work with a single designer. Scott says: “We have a good relationship with Jeffreys Interiors and they have photographed the rooms to use in publicity, but we take ideas from where we’ve been in the world, pointing out nice ideas in a hotel to each other, and trying to achieve the look when we come home.”

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The house has a wealth of public rooms, ideal for socialising which the couple love.

Scott says: “The drawing room is formal, there’s no TV, but there’s a fire and that is definitely the Christmas room.

Picture: Strutt and Parker

“The sitting room is where we spend most of time. That is the heart of the house connecting the kitchen and the sun room.”

The garden took four years and a huge budget to get right.

The fact that it looks so mature is a testament to the landscaping work as much was planted in the last few years.

Seating, a firepit and a barbecue area was added last year and a few months ago the front of the house was repaved.

Picture: Strutt and Parker

There was a Wendy house in the garden which the couple have adapted to be used as a dog kennel, adding a dog run which means the family’s pets, Rhodesian ridgeback Jasmine and British bulldog Rocky, can enjoy the outside safely.

Simon has now moved out of the coach house. He got married last year and the couple are about to be grandparents.

With a house being built in Marbella, their focus and time will now shift to Spain rather than Edinburgh.

Picture: Strutt and Parker

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There are definitely regrets about the necessity to sell Edgerton, particularly from Lesley, but they realise that a house of this size should be used to the full.

Scott says: “This sounds a bit cheesy, but we have put our heart and soul into this house and it would be really nice to feel that we are passing it to someone who will love it as much as we have.”

Edgerton House is on the market for offers over £1.35m with Strutt & Parker.