Holiday loveliness in Edinburgh

Gosh, this is exciting. What a world of possibility...and, an ideal place to express my as yet unsated enthusiasm (ok, slight smugness) for the holiday cottage in which we recently stayed in Edinburgh. I'm permanently on the look-out for lovely places to stay on the relatively small budget I have available after household expenses and all the other ill-thought through purchases I make on a monthly basis (honestly, I don't know where it goes...). Happily, I came across The Minnow House while looking for accommodation in Edinburgh on Alastair Sawday's reliable if irritatingly-pleased-with-itself (just me?) website.

Believe me, it is rare that I am pleasantly surprised and still rarer that I can disguise holiday-related disappointment (toys, pram...). But, but, but The Minnow House more than delivers on its promise of a centrally-located bolthole, carefully designed and beautifully finished. It's a pepper-pot annexe to a larger house (previously the home of a famous Scottish photographer), with a good size, comfy bedroom and shower-room downstairs and upstairs, via a spiral staircase, a triple-aspect living room with views towards both the Old and New Towns. The living room also incorporates a clever, well-appointed stowaway kitchen (including dishwasher, natch), telly and fully operational woodburning stove. OK, so my fire-making skills leave a little to be desired (frankly, we were lucky to survive the night) but the thought was there... And best of all, it has its very own private entrance off a path winding up Calton Hill, in between ivy-covered stone walls, behind a wrought-iron, Secret Garden gate that clunks more-than-satisfyingly behind you.

And even bestest of all *she pants*, it costs less to stay there than your average Travelodge. Basically, you should book it immediately (before everyone else catches on). I defy you not to love it. Deets here and here.