This bright and inviting main door apartment is located in a quiet lane a stone’s throw from Heriot Row, the site of Robert Louis Stevenson’s onetime Edinburgh abode. Mere minutes away is Queen Street, home to the acclaimed Scottish National Portrait Gallery (offering free admission), and Princes Street, Edinburgh’s retail hotspot. The apartment is also very close to Stockbridge where there are excellent independent shops, cafes and restaurants and a wonderful farmer's market held every Sunday under the trees close to the river.
The step up from the lane leads you into the kitchen-cum-dining room, adjoining the stairwell directly ahead. This area has an organic atmosphere ascribed by the windows on either end and the wooden units and dining table, which seats six. The kitchen features an elevated oven for ease-of-access, a coffee-maker, and a dishwasher, in addition to the essentials of hob and oven, fridge, pots, pans, cutlery and crockery.
Off the kitchen is the utility room, which is similarly comprehensive, containing the microwave and Wi-Fi router, a separate sink, washing machine, iron and ironing board, clothes horse and pulley. The controls for the boiler are also found here. Its window brightens the space and the counter makes loading the pulley that much easier. Parking is available in the adjoining garage.
Upstairs are the bedrooms, bathroom and living room.
The master bedroom is to be found on the left of the first floor (second floor to our American cousins). This space caters for all your rest and storage needs, with a double bed, chest of drawers, wooden cabinet, and an integrated pair of double wardrobes with cupboards above. The bed faces a painting by Edinburgh-born colourist Francis Cadell, and next to the bedside cabinet with radio alarm clock is a wooden chair. As with all the other rooms of the property, the master bedroom has its own window.
The bathroom has a pleasant character, with pristine white décor and a hint of sensuality in the female frontal nude on the far wall. It has a deep bath with its own shower head, and a separate shower in the corner. A heated towel rail stands in between.
On the opposite side of the upper floor is the twin room, furnished with a chest of drawers. The two beds lie under the sloping window, so guests can waken naturally under the morning sun, or pull the shutter for leisurely long lies.
The final room of the property is the living room, which has two sofas (one a sofa-bed), a wooden chair and a coffee table across from the flatscreen TV with DVD player and selection of DVDs. The room also has an adjoining storage closet with clothes rail, and beautifully contrasting paintings – one an Impressionistic landscape, the other a monochrome cityscape – adorn opposite walls. This sense of union of the natural and built environments is epitomized in an ornamental brass and cream clock atop the bureau, encased in a bell jar, its face and base bearing floral motifs.
Jamaica Street South Lane is a perfect retreat for small families to enjoy each other’s company within walking distance of Edinburgh’s best amenities.
