Detached house for sale in Musselburgh EH21, 3 Bedroom

Longlisted for riba’s House of the Year in 2017, Edinburgh Road is a multi-award-winning home, occupying an outstanding coastal location on the western edge of Musselburgh, six miles from Edinburgh’s city centre. A six-meter-long cinematic window frames breath-taking views and opens the front of the house to encapsulate the mesmerising sounds of the sea. The house blends harmoniously with its location, built directly into the rugged stone of the existing sea wall, with a beautiful larch-clad exterior.

The timber-frame structure of the new house replaced a 1980’s flat-roof cottage which was entirely introverted in its layout and counterintuitively faced the internal courtyard. The architect’s plans for what was initially an extension, became an entire rebuild, turning the house to face in the opposite direction in order to harness the panoramic sea view.

The internal space measures just over 2000 square feet and is entered via an attractive south-facing walled courtyard, housing a single garage and a greenhouse. To the right of the entrance sits the primary living area; its pitched roof providing double-height and dramatic volume. The space is loosely arranged in an open-plan layout with a living room area and log burner to one end and a modern kitchen opposite. Glazed sliding doors leading to the courtyard invite natural light into the central dining area, with engineered oak and underfloor heating underfoot. A beautifully finished polished-concrete window sill, in keeping with the clean lines throughout the interior, stretches across one side of the room.

To the left of the entrance, the gallery corridor leads to a large utility room, second bedroom and the bathroom. The master bedroom sits adjacent, interlinked with a generous walk-in wardrobe and en-suite wet room. An exceptionally light study or third bedroom is located to the far end of the house, with a ribbon of glazing framing an immersive scene of the horizon ahead.

For the current owners, their geographical understanding of the area has been shaped by the views of the headland, which are impressive and as far reaching as North Berwick Law, a volcanic plug formed around 340 million years ago.

‘To the north east, on a very clear day, you can see Inchkeith Island and the coast of Fife; to the north, the Isle of May and the island of Fidra and its lighthouse. Further round, when the sun is in the west, the top of Bass Rock can be seen jutting up above the Gullane dunes.’

Natant and ornithological wildlife is abundant; seals have been spotted from the house, alongside redshanks, oystercatchers, cormorants and diving gannets, which put on quite a show throughout the autumn months.

Musselburgh lies six miles to the east of Edinburgh, where the River Esk meets the sea. The town takes its name from the ample mussel beds lining its shore and is famed for its racecourse, the oldest in Scotland and its golf course, thought to be the oldest in the world.

Neighbouring Portobello, just five minutes by car, provides an immediate selection of local amenities, cafes and restaurants; the Di Rollo ice cream parlour is a renowned Musselburgh favourite. Edinburgh’s city centre and its excellent selection of Michelin star restaurants, of which there are four, are easily reached in fifteen minutes by car. Tom Kitchin’s The Kitchin is a known highlight.

The area has a rich picking of both public and private schools, including Loretto, Fette’s College, Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh’s Boroughmuir High School, ranked Scotland’s best state school by The Times for 2019.

National rail offers direct routes from Edinburgh Waverley to Kings Cross. Edinburgh’s International airport is just a thirty-minute drive from Musselburgh.