A flat on Edinburgh’s most photogenic street is for sale at £875,000

A narrow, traffic-free thoroughfare lined with pretty stone mews houses draped in hanging baskets and climbing plants, Circus Lane in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, has been hyped as Scotland’s most Instagrammable street.
The constant procession of tourists who drift along the cobbles in summer, snapping selfies and occasionally poking their faces in people’s windows is “not everyone’s cup of tea”, acknowledges Anna Martin, the owner of a marvellous two-storey, two-bedroom flat on the lane, which she has fully renovated over the past couple of years. “But you get some quite interesting folk coming along,” she adds. “For people who like being somewhere that has a buzz, or who like people-watching, it’s certainly a good little street for that.”
Wind back to the 1990s, and Circus Lane was a mess. Its buildings, many of them old coach houses, were shabby and run-down — a mixture of garages, stores, commercial properties and rudimentary housing. But in a revival driven by residents and developers it has been gradually transformed into one of the city’s most desirable locales, with not only the superb amenities of Stockbridge immediately at hand, but Princes Street just a 15-minute walk away.
When Martin bought her property in 2022 with a view to creating a cosy city-centre home for her, her husband and their two kids, it was being used as an office. While the sandstone exterior held period charm galore, and has been fully retained and sensitively cleaned up and enhanced, the inside was damp and gloomy, and had to be “stripped right back to the rafters and the joists”, she explains. The renovation, she says, was “almost like building a new house within old walls”.
They opted to contrast the historic shell with sharply contemporary interiors, centred on an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area flooded with natural light from four windows that face the street. Walls and the ceiling are painted white to make the space feel as light as possible. A sleek, modern kitchen area in the corner is equipped with high-end Miele appliances. There’s a wine fridge and store downstairs.
The two bedrooms — one en suite, the other with a dedicated shower room along the hall — are both in the basement, yet draw in light from the high windows above at street level. Designed in the traditional sash and case style, the windows are electronically controlled. “Everything looks old fashioned from the outside,” Martin says, “but inside it’s all mod cons.”
The flat has two front doors, both opening onto the street, each giving direct access to a different floor. While the property may not have any private outdoor space, it’s possible on sunny days to sit out on the lane and enjoy the buzz, or to take a short walk along to India Street residents’ gardens, to which the flat has access rights.
If you’re concerned about the prospect of nosey Instagrammers peering in on you, fear not — the ground-floor windows have carefully custom-designed split shutters. “We had quite good fun trying to measure at what point the shutter needed to be split so you couldn’t look in the house at street level,” Martin says, laughing. “It does let you have that bit of privacy, while still allowing the light in.”Offers over £875,000, knightfrank.co.uk