In 1899, the “old” Penicuik House went up in smoke. Today, 100 yards away, a photograph on a wall in the “new” Penicuik House depicts ladies taking tea on the lawn, surrounded by their belongings as flames lick the roof of what was once the finest Palladian manor in Scotland.
“It burned for two weeks,” explains Ed Clerk, the 14th generation to steward Penicuik and its 7,500 acres south of Edinburgh at the foot of the Pentland Hills. “But in a twist of fate, it kept the estate in the family, as it was up for sale at the time because they’d essentially run out of money.”
