Penicuik House, Midlothian - another hidden gem.

Lovely day today,  at the Grill early and then home - so took myself off for a walk up into the Penicuik Estate.      Wonderful to see how the old Penicuik House, built by Sir James Clerk in 1761, has been made safe and visitors can now really get a feel of how beautiful it was in its heyday.

There are two statues on either side of the entrance, 

Not sure if either of these are Roman  but Clerk had a fascination for Roman and Greek artefacts and bought many which came from the Roman sites / forts at Cramond, on the River Forth and Middlebie  near Dumfries.
In 1899 a fire started in the House which burned for two days,  during which the family and staff were able to safe a great deal of property and documents, although the library was totally destroyed.

 The view from this side of the house over the valley is beautiful.

  From the South side of the house there is an avenue leading out towards the River Esk, and in the hillside opposite is an obelisk erected in memory of the local poet Alan Ramsay (1686 -1758)  who lived in nearby Carlops Village and who was a friend of the family and frequent visitor to Sir James.

Midway along the South Avenue is the pets cemetery where the Clerk family buried their faithful four legged followers.

The family now live in the adjacent house which some say was the old stable block, however other documents refer to the building as the Estate Offices, built when the original house went up, 

 The "Dookit" atop the building was built by Sir James Clerk around 1761 and is a model of the Roman Temple, on the River Carron, near Falkirk,  known as Arthur's O'on which was destroyed when the Carron iron Works were built.

Nice walk, well worth making the effort and taking the time to go and see it especially when the sun is shining.