Liberton Tower

A popular venue on the Doors Open Day programme (we queued for 20 minutes, 400 had already been and a longer queue had assembled by the time we were inside) but well worth it as the views alone are stunning.

Built around 1453 as a traditional Scottish tower house, a defensive home accessed by an outside stair to the first floor but with the unusual addition of a drawbridge. These features are no longer evident. The ground floor vaults held the stores and, if the drawbridge was closed, could be brought up through a trapdoor in the main hall. Vacated in early C17 except for use for animals, restoration began in 1997 using original features for reference. Now owned by the Vivat Trust, it is used as a 2-bedroom holiday let.

Our next Door Open was Summerhall, the erstwhile home of the Dick Veterinary College, now a series of galleries of modern art, which neither of us appreciated and a cafe, which we did. There was no obvious welcome, guide or direction in the foyer so we wandered over the entire labyrinthine building unchallenged, thus we also discovered abandonned fume cabinets and lab benches with old gastaps and sinks, making us feel quite nostalgic.