Leuchie in the Press
Emma Cook in the The Observer - December 2023
Looking through a set of iron gates and up a long driveway, you might assume a grand Gothic pile would greet you at the end of it. Yet Leuchie Walled Garden is its polar opposite, a midcentury wonder, low-slung, sleek, geometric and gleaming white.
Designed in 1960 by the architect James Dunbar-Nasmith for the Dalrymple family (historian and author William Dalrymple spent his childhood here), it’s the sort of home you would expect to find hidden in the Hollywood Hills, but here it is, a modernist gem dropped into a Victorian walled garden in a corner of East Lothian.
Renovated three years ago, its decor has an even more contemporary edge; a mix of timber and glass coexists happily with the family’s collection of old books, objets d’art and antique furniture.
The heart of the house is the open-plan living area where 18th-century family portraits preside over an Ercol-style dining table and chairs and an expanse of floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the lawn. Wherever you look it’s a disconcerting mix of Mad Men meets Scottish baronial, but somehow the combination works brilliantly.
We’re a large-ish party of three couples with assorted older children, but we barely touch the sides – there are six bedrooms and bathrooms as well as a second kitchen – which is why it would work well for bigger family get-togethers and special occasions. The high-walled garden it overlooks is sheltered with its own microclimate, full of ancient trees and plants, and ideal for younger children who can’t wander too far. There’s a tennis court, too, and on rainy days snooker, table tennis and darts.
Once you tear yourself away, Leuchie is a great base for local walks, while North Berwick, regularly voted the best place to live in Scotland, is only a mile down the road.
The Times - March 2022
This six-bedroom house is an intriguing blend of old, newer and the very up-to-date, having been extensively refurbished in 2020. Set within a 200-year-old walled garden is a thoroughly modernist house designed in 1960 by James Dunbar-Nasmith and formerly home to the family of travel writer William Dalrymple.
There are six bedrooms and an open- plan area of games rooms, plus other more formal parts filled with antique furniture and paintings, alongside a snazzy kitchen extension.
The five-acre garden is your own private space and includes a tennis court, a croquet lawn and a two-hole golf pitching range, as well as fruit trees and vegetable gardens to forage in. Best of all, a gate leads into woodland and beyond is very lovely Seacliff Beach.
Hidden Scotland
Built in the 1960s as a family home for the Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian, this sleek mid-century, post-Bauhaus house is chock-full of the family’s 300-year-old collection of furniture and portraits.
Flooded with light via acres of glass, the house has six en suite bedrooms and an open-plan kitchen/lounge, opening on to a huge walled garden and surrounding 60-acre estate. Seacliff beach only ten minutes’ drive away — it’s a cracker.
Gemma Cook in The Guardian - Feb 2022
This fine example of a mid-century modern house has a unique twist – its location, in the walledgarden of a grand, 18th-century mansion which belongs to the family of travel and history writer William Dalrymple, whose ancestors have lived on the Leuchie House estate for centuries.
The Californian-style glasshouse is in the spirit of Mies van der Rohe but designed by the highly regarded Scottish architect James Dunbar-Nasmith, its stark form set against the traditional brickwork. A free-flowing living area clad in timber is stuffed with antiques and portraits from the grand house, and from the garden a gate leads to woodland, beyond which is stunning Seacliff Beach, with views to Bass Rock.
Historical Books and Articles
Leuchie Walled Garden is of great architectural merit, being one of the most famous mid-Century Modern houses in Scotland.
This has been recognised by a number of journalists & photographers who have written about the house from an art historical point of view.
Some of the best articles are:
Leuchie: the house and garden where the 1960s meets the 1690s
Mary Miers in Country Life (January 22 2023) - Read the Article
The Iconic British House – Modern Architectural Masterworks since 1900
Dominic Bradbury, Thames & Hudson 2023 - Read More
National Treasures – Leuchie Walled Garden
Conde Nast Traveller October 2021