The Best Historic Sites

Gladstone's Land, now run by the National Trust for Scotland, is a 17th-century merchant's house and worth a visit to get the impression of how confined living conditions were some 400 years ago on the Royal Mile. On the second floor, in the front room that Gladstone added, you can see the original facade with its classical friezes of columns and arches. Here, as well, is the sensitively restored timber ceiling. Across town, the Georgian House is in Charlotte Square, which was designed by the great Robert Adam. This town house is set out and decorated in the manner of the 18th century.