Sir Walter Scott's retreat near Edinburgh is up for sale for offers over £1.75 million.

Barony House in Lasswade, Midlothian, where the author wrote his first poetry, has been put on the market by its current owners through the estate agents Savills.

Scott rented the six bedroom house for £30 a year in the early 1800s from its original owners.

He wrote the opening stanza of The Lay of the Last Minstrel, his first great poetic success, while staying at the house then known as Lasswade Cottage. He also wrote the novel The Gray Brother, which celebrates the countryside round Lasswade.

"This is a stunning property and has been attraching interest from people who can see it's a beautiful property, not just from fans of Sir Walter."

The Property is for sale in two lots - Barony House itself at offers over £1.35 million and a lodge [sic] house, with four bedrooms and a seperate driveway, for another £400,000.

According to Savills, Scott brought his wife Charlotte to the cottage after their honeymoon in 1798. Many of his friends had country residences close by, including the novelist Henry MacKenzie, and his old history teacher Alexander Fraser Tytler.

He also entertained a number of literary guests at Lasswade, including, in 1803, the famous poet William Wordsworth and his wife Dorothy.

The Scotsman, 20th September 2006

It was in 1801 that Sir Walter was initiated into Freemasonry in Lodge St. David's, No.36 (which still meets in Edinburgh). Henry MacKenzie, (author of A Man of Feeling), mentioned in the above article was a friend and close neighbour of Scott. He to was a Freemason.